Bank-issued debit and credit cards are not as flexible as crypto-friendly debit cards; they risk falling behind the curve should they continue ​stifling crypto purchases​ by their customers. Major payment processors are taking notice too.

Payment processors and remittance firms, such as Western Union, are beginning to take cryptocurrencies more seriously compared to a few years ago. For the first time in a while, the remittance industry has an emerging competitor to Western Union’s dominance.

What are the advantages for you, the investor and the consumer?

A Gateway From Crypto to Fiat

Access to cryptocurrencies, specifically Bitcoin in the early 2010s, was exceptionally challenging. Acquiring Bitcoin usually entailed meeting sellers in physical locations using Craigslist or LocalBitcoins. Other avenues included Western Union transfers with online payment processors that were costly and took hours to complete.

The situation is much different today.

Cryptocurrency exchanges are located all over the world, furnishing access to an array of of cryptocurrencies purchasable in various fiat currencies. However, many of these exchanges charge high fees, have low liquidity, and are only accessible on a computer web interface with limited functionality.

Crypto debit cards are the physical bridge of crypto to the real world.

For example, investing on a commission-free application, such as Change, means users can invest in Bitcoin with as little as 1 Euro and have a crypto debit card directly linked to a mobile app; meaning that you can convert and spend your investments from the app directly with your card.

Crypto-friendly debit cards drastically improve the dynamic of bounded access to cryptocurrency investments -- increasing the flexibility of using them in the process.

Spend All Over The World

Some crypto debit cards are available to swipe anywhere retailers are located. With Change, you can instantly convert and spend your hard-earned BTC, XRP, ETH, and more at over 40 million locations worldwide -- wherever Visa is accepted.

Access to crypto debit cards also enables users to seamlessly switch between their crypto investments and fiat currencies if they need to pay bills or other expenses. You can allocate a specific portion of your investments to spend on the debit card to pay rent while keeping the rest of your portfolio earmarked for BTC. Should you want to reduce your exposure to BTC, you can convert to fiat or another cryptocurrency.

With crypto debit cards, users can carry their investments on the go, without worrying about logging into an exchange for the costly and time-consuming process of depositing, withdrawing, waiting for blockchain confirmation, and then finally spending at retail locations.

Modern Asset Management Features

Mobile banking is a modern phenomenon. Paired with seamless access to crypto investments and a crypto-friendly debit card, the experience only becomes more enticing. For context, many modern bank users are transitioning to purely mobile banking platforms. Unfortunately these banks don’t often have a debit card that's crypto-friendly.

It's clear that a suite of mobile push notifications, asset management, and other features appeal to younger generations. In the Change mobile app, users are enabled to set up instant price notifications on the asset of their choosing, get updated on their portfolio with push notifications, and even gauge general market sentiment with a market signal meter (powered by IntoTheBlock).

Coalescing a feature-rich application for flowing crypto assets into a widely accepted debit card is an alluring product to the primary demographics of crypto users. That’s precisely why crypto debit cards are becoming so popular.

Crypto-friendly debit cards may still be in their early stages, but the sheer scale of interest in their advantages will only serve to fuel more exploration into how to bridge legacy finance with crypto.

Download the Change App to buy and sell Bitcoin commission-free and order your crypto-friendly debit card. Available in Europe for iOS and Android.