- In association with Mastercard, Bitso has launched the Bitso card, a digital and physical debit card, with which you can pay for your purchases with the available balance in MXN in your Bitso wallet.
- After having enabled the card for a group of clients in November, Bitso will begin to distribute the more than 100,000 cards that it had on the waiting list.
- The card will provide cashback for each purchase made, and the current month’s spending is what will determine the return in Bitcoin for the following month.
One of the options that centralized exchanges found to attract more and more public was to provide benefits to users through debit cards. The last one to join the conversation is Bitsothe Mexican exchange that is one of the dominators of the national scene
After a long time venturing into the sector they arrived at in 2014, the company founded by Daniel Vogel, Ben Peters and Pablo González made the launch of this prepaid card official through its social networks (electronic balance funds withdrawal card, as they themselves explained) that has a close collaboration with Mastercard, a leader when it comes to processing payments.
Bitso card, at the hand of all Mexican customers
After having enabled the card for a group of customers in November, with whom he worked to refine the system, Bitso will begin to distribute the more than 100,000 cards that were on the waiting list. This is expected to also run in the other three countries in which the exchange operates: Argentina, Brazil, and Colombia.
In Argentine territory there had already been some progress after in September of last year, users could make “payments with QR code using Argentine pesos, digital dollars, Bitcoin, Ether and DAI”, according to the media outlet. CoinDesk.
Cashback up to 1.25%
The particularity of the Bitso card, a company with more than 6 million users, is the cashback that is given to users for using it. Here Bitso will have strong competition: Tauros, Buenbit and Binance are three companies that already also offer this modality of returns in cryptocurrencies.
The expense of the current month is the one that will determine the return in Bitcoin of the following month. The basic level, which implies expenses of up to $10,000 pesos, gives you 0.3% in BTC; up to $20,000 pesos is 0.75%, while above that amount is 1.25%. This changed with respect to the first plan: it always gave 1.25%.
As can be seen on social networks, some criticized this modification and from the company they assured that they are going to “work to improve it”. This, to a large extent, is due to the bear market that is hitting the market hard. Lemon Cash and Belo, two other Latin American exchanges with the same reward system, also changed their conditions.
Unlike other cards, the Bitso Card will only allow payment via pesos. It will not be possible to consume the funds in stablecoins as well as in cryptocurrencies. For some time now, the exchange has grown in terms of supply and today users can buy a dozen digital assets.
The Bitso Card will allow contactless payments and does not require an annuity. Besides will work like a payroll card: it will be possible to withdraw money from any ATM without commission. The company also reported that it reached alliances with some companies to provide different types of benefits: Uber, Mercado Libre and Cinépolis are three of them.
Mastercard and Visa still bet on crypto ecosystem
The fact that Mastercard is involved in the project marks the company’s desire to stay in the sector. Much has been said that both Mastercard and Visa were thinking of stopping investing in the digital space.
“Our efforts continue to focus on the underlying blockchain technology and how it can be applied to help address current pain points and build more efficient systems for consumers and businesses.”highlighted from Mastercard.
Meanwhile, a Visa spokesperson reported:
“Recent failures do not change our crypto strategy and approach to serve as a bridge, helping to connect both platforms and emerging technologies in the crypto ecosystem. That is where we have been investing and we plan to continue investing”.
Bitso takes a new step in the crypto space with the desire to add more and more public. How will this impact within the country? The answer to all questions remains to be seen…
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