Coinbase Enters New Business With Visa Debit Card

US-headquartered major crypto company Coinbase, best known for its exchange and wallet services, has entered a new business area by offering Coinbase Card, a Visa debit card.

Source: Coinbase

At this stage, it’s available for the UK clients, only, while other unspecified European customers might be supported in the coming months, the company said in a blog post.

Zeeshan Feroz, the head of Coinbase in the UK, told the Financial Times that there was currently “no timeline” on the new card’s launch in the US.

“We are targeting UK consumers because, generally speaking, data shows they are much more open to accepting new types of debit cards,” according to Feroz.

“Coinbase Card is powered by customers’ Coinbase account crypto balances, giving them the ability to pay in-store and online using bitcoin, ethereum, litecoin, and more,” the company said, adding that during a transaction they “instantly” convert crypto to fiat currency, such as GBP, which is used to complete the purchase. The card can be used for cash withdrawals from ATMs, also.

The card is managed via Coinbase Card app that among other things offers instant receipts, transaction summaries, spending categories, and more. Also, the company claims, that their clients will be able to dispute a charge, as “Card comes with the same consumer protections as any standard debit card.”

There is the GBP 4.95 (USD 6.48) card issuance fee that has been waived for the first 1,000 customers. The card users can withdraw up to GBP 200 per month for free, while any amount over that sum is charged 1%-2%, depending on whether it’s a domestic or international cash withdrawal. Domestic purchase transactions are for free, while the rest is charged 0.20%-3%.

In the future, Coinbase Card is likely to compete with other crypto payment card issuers such as Crypto.com and TenX, while there are also many other projects in development, such as TokenCard. However, at this stage, these cards are not available globally yet.

Coinbase has partnered with Apto Payments, previously Shift Payments, which previously ran its own ‘Shift Card’, allowing users to spend crypto from their Coinbase accounts in the US, the Financial Times noted.