Here's What You Need to Know About a Crypto Payment Card

The fact that crypto has become indispensable is evident from its tremendous surge in popularity among people. The number of people possessing crypto has greatly increased in recent years. Despite lots of new legislation revolving around this still somewhat controversial form of money, we see that we can no longer ignore it. In fact, we can now pay with it at an ever-growing number of places. We already knew you could buy a Tesla with Bitcoin, but did you know you can also pay at the supermarket, baker, and butcher with your crypto payment card? The chances that the baker or butcher has no idea how this works are quite high, but they don't need to because it doesn't affect them. As we can imagine that all sorts of questions might be running through your mind, we will explain how it precisely works in this article.

What is a Crypto Payment Card?

A crypto payment card is essentially nothing more than a debit card/prepaid card from a certain crypto platform. These platforms are in turn connected to major payment systems, enabling payments. These cards are equipped with an NFC tag, just like a debit card, allowing the card to communicate with other systems. This technology has been in use for years, as in our debit cards, but also in clothing labels, for example. The addition of stickers with NFC tags triggers an alarm when someone leaves the store without paying. Whereas it was much more difficult to pay with crypto until a few years ago, it has become much easier today. The retailer receives their money, just like when you pay with your bank debit card.

Are there any fees involved?

The benefits of a crypto debit card are, of course, huge. However, there are still a few crucial points we want to discuss. What we see is that there are countless providers of this type of payment cards. It's extremely handy to choose the most affordable party, but the downside is that you have no safety net if, for example, the issuer goes bankrupt. Unlike a bank, your capital is therefore not insured. Another consideration is that many cryptocurrencies need to be locked in for an extended period. This means that you can't sell them during a significant increase in value. If we look at the cost per transaction, these are often substantial. Aside from the costs per transaction, annual fees are often charged for card usage.

Can anyone create such a card?

With current technologies, you too can create a card that allows your customers to pay. Now there are various laws and regulations to adhere to, but it can be done in the form of a credit or loyalty card if you have a store. For example, you can get Plastic cards made at DCP, which are equipped with this NFC technology, and they can even help you set up a customer loyalty system. So, in theory, you can also create a card that allows your customers to pay, but getting all the regulations in order that you are linked to a payment system like Visa is not only extremely expensive but also takes a lot of time.