There’s good news for Brits who have invested in Bitcoin or any such other cryptocurrency.

There’s good news for Brits who have invested in Bitcoin or any such other cryptocurrency.

Apart from being speculative investments, they can use them to pay for a soda can in their nearby store or order the latest smartphone online. 

                                     

News of the Day

Virtual currencies get real; CoinBase launches a debit card

Despite all the fame they enjoy, Bitcoin, along with other leading cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum, Ripple's XRP and litecoin have one major handicap. 

They are harder to spend and use in the real world than their traditional fiat counterparts (legal currencies).

To tackle this issue, major bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has teamed up with global payments processor Visa by launching a debit card called Coinbase Card in the U.K. 
                                   

How it works?

The Coinbase Card syncs directly with a user’s Coinbase account and make it easier to pay for purchases both made in stores and also online with cryptocurrencies from one platform.

Users would be able to decide which cryptocurrency they would like to use for the payment through Coinbase Card app and that amount would then be withdrawn from his/her’s Coinbase account.

Retailers themselves would not accept payments in cryptocurrencies though.

Coinbase will charge users a small fee of about 2.5% to convert cryptocurrency to fiat money.

It has a $6.50 card (€5.75, £4.96) issuance fee.

Future plans  

The Coinbase Card is currently only available in the U.K and will be introduced in other European countries later this month. 

Getting into the Mainstream

Many fintech companies are working to make crypto payments and trading more accessible.