Post
Topic
Board Bitcoin Discussion
Re: Washington Post: "You can now pay with Bitcoin practically anywhere"
by
bitart
on 26/11/2015, 23:03:12 UTC
The headline is misleading. It's a bitcoin debit card only available for residents of some american states. The EU is discussing cracking down on virtual currencies and prepaid cards, so I doubt it's going to be offered to EU citizens. Besides, bitcoin debit cards are nothing new, a number of exchanges were already offering them but with high fees.

Quote

There is a catch: The card is currently only available to residents of Alabama, Arizona, California, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, South Dakota, Texas, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia and the District of Columbia. That's two-dozen regions in all.

Yeah, that does kind of suck. It is unfortunate that the EU will probably not get the Bitcoin debit card. It is the EU and Bitcoin that will lose out, not America. I feel sorry for you.
EU can apply for XAPO's card, I also have one. It's directly connected to your wallet and it only exchanges fiat if it is needed. It's not a prepaid card, it's a normal VISA debit card (and also not a credit card).
Despite of the acceptance of BTC via debit card, I also think that acceptance of BTC itself (and not about accepting the VISA debit BTC card) will spread only if merchants learn to accept BTC itself.