Coinbase Enables Instant Bitcoin Purchase via US Debit Cards
Bitcoin exchange Coinbase has announced that it now enabled instant purchase of bitcoin via debit cards. The feature is available to all users in the United States.
Coinbase users in the United States will, like their European counterparts, have the means to instantly buy bitcoin with debit cards. The feature rollout comes after an initial announcement in early March when Coinbase launched the feature in its beta infancy.
At the time, only 1% of some 5.2B US debit cards in circulation had the means to get the cryptocurrency.
The announcement was made via Coinbase’s social media account.
The digital currency exchange also added that debit card purchasing of the cryptocurrency will be enabled in additional countries soon.
A 3.75% fee will be applied for debit card purchases, compared to the 1% fee for payments made via a bank account. Debit card users will also be required to verify their identity before making their first bitcoin purchase.
Furthermore, debit card users will have the limitation to purchase a maximum of $250 worth of bitcoin a day, as opposed to being able to buy up to $10,000 of bitcoin, per day, whilst using a bank account as a method of payment.
With a large number of US consumers increasingly choosing to use and depend squarely on their debit cards instead of credit cards, the move is more than likely to bring a slew of new users to Coinbase in a space where competitors like Circle already allows instant bitcoin purchases via debit cards.
Coinbase also has the claim to be the first company behind the launch of a US-issued debit card, back in November 2015. Known as the “Shift Card”, the VISA debit card at launch allowed Coinbase users in 24 US states to spend and make settlements with the cryptocurrency online and offline at POS terminals at 38 million merchants around the world.
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