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Introducing the Shift Card: Use Bitcoin where Visa is accepted

blog.coinbase.com

81–90 of 359 posts

Re: Introducing the Shift Card: Use Bitcoin where Visa is accepted

#81
post #8

"The default PIN is the last four digits of your registered mobile phone number. Please call Shift support at 800-897-0717 to reset your Shift Card pin." That's a terrible idea. This isn't a library card. You're PIN shouldn't be known by anyone who knows your phone number.

That is the default security of my library card. How universal is this?

Re: Introducing the Shift Card: Use Bitcoin where Visa is accepted

#82
post #56

I can get the same "privacy" and not be subject to arbitrary Bitcoin/Dollar price fluctuations by simply buying Visa debit "gift cards" for cash.

As someone who first bought bitcoin at 8 USD, I'm quite enamored of the price fluctuations. Considering that it will be heading into the four and five digits relatively soon, I'm not sure this is a negative.

4 and 5 digits? Please

Re: Introducing the Shift Card: Use Bitcoin where Visa is accepted

#83
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's really weird. I moved money in the 6 figures in Coinbase and have uploaded no documents whatsoever. Never had a question from them. (except for sending big amounts, they ask you if it is for an exchange or wallet).

Almost equally bad.

Yes, I become suspicious at some point. and then it made a bit comfortable doing it, holding and using their services more.

Re: Introducing the Shift Card: Use Bitcoin where Visa is accepted

#84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't have to hold dollars to spend dollars, is the only thing I can think of.

Coinbase holds the dollars for you. It's arguable to what extent bitcoin even factors in here after your initial deposit, since everything is under the control of Coinbase. You are effectively holding a note called "Coinbase bitcoin" that fluctuates in value compared to the dollar, and you get a spot exchange rate when you spend. This is not the way bitcoin was meant to be held and spent.

Wow, that is terrible. The twisted people who came up with this deserve some respect given how they managed to get this on HN.

"Bitcoin" all the things => Profit

Re: Introducing the Shift Card: Use Bitcoin where Visa is accepted

#85
post #28

You can now use Bitcoin anywhere VISA is accepted, so long as coinbase doesn't close your account, ignore you and close all the tickets you open. Even if you painstakingly collect and compile sensitive documents for them to review, which was a gigantic waste of my time, thanks! I have for months encouraged everyone I know not to use coinbase and will continue to do so.

That's really weird. I moved money in the 6 figures in Coinbase and have uploaded no documents whatsoever. Never had a question from them. (except for sending big amounts, they ask you if it is for an exchange or wallet).

No, it is not weird at all. They have something like 3 million wallets, and ~100 employees. I would assume that different customers can have wildly different experience, just because there can be so many random variables.

Re: Introducing the Shift Card: Use Bitcoin where Visa is accepted

#86
post #38

You can now use Bitcoin anywhere VISA is accepted, so long as coinbase doesn't close your account, ignore you and close all the tickets you open. Even if you painstakingly collect and compile sensitive documents for them to review, which was a gigantic waste of my time, thanks! I have for months encouraged everyone I know not to use coinbase and will continue to do so.

Don't forget at a random exchange rate chosen by Coinbase.

The exchange rate is almost identical through all exchanges. Have been studying the market for a while, the slippage between exchanges barely last more than 5 minutes.

Re: Introducing the Shift Card: Use Bitcoin where Visa is accepted

#87
post #11

I can't really find details on how this works. I assume the merchant still receives USD in the transaction along with the typical Visa card transaction fees. Which in that case, what is the point?

Well, one benefit I can think of is that keeping cash in a bank, just to keep you debit card funded, is a bad investment (I'll just ignore for now the question as to whether bitcoin is a BETTER investment :)

Re: Introducing the Shift Card: Use Bitcoin where Visa is accepted

#88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nerver used bitcoin, but cannot you simply create another bitcoin account for petty cash VISA transactions and transfer funds when need be?

You can, but ironically, transfers are not painless in Bitcoin. It can take over 60 minutes for a transaction to be "confirmed", meaning the network has verified that the coins you spent were rightfully yours to spend, and there needs to be a transaction fee attached so that miners are incentivized to check your transaction. Many bitcoin users prefer to generate a new incoming address for each transaction to improve…

If you have two Coinbase accounts, transfers are immediate (since Coinbase still owns the bitcoins, they just move them internally): https://support.coinbase.com/customer/en/portal/articles/139...

Re: Introducing the Shift Card: Use Bitcoin where Visa is accepted

#89
post #33

If you wanted to use a visa card, why would even bother with bitcoin? Or vise-versa

Not only that, but there's a $10 issuance fee associated with this, and based on the announcement, there will be usage charges as well in the future. So it's Visa + fees. As opposed to the Visa I pull out of my wallet now and use without paying any fees.

Re: Introducing the Shift Card: Use Bitcoin where Visa is accepted

#90
post #33

If you wanted to use a visa card, why would even bother with bitcoin? Or vise-versa

Not only that, but there's a $10 issuance fee associated with this, and based on the announcement, there will be usage charges as well in the future. So it's Visa + fees. As opposed to the Visa I pull out of my wallet now and use without paying any fees.

Well, except for the 2% merchant fee of course (that's passed along to all of us in the price)
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