Key facts:
Buenbit, Lemon and Belo have distributed more than 180,000 Visa and Mastercard cards in Argentina.
The cards are free and two of them allow you to spend bitcoin without having to sell it.
Going to the supermarket or a clothing store and paying with bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH) or other cryptocurrencies is not possible, at least in the big chains, in Argentina. However, the Visa or Mastercard cards of three national startups offer the option to spend cryptocurrencies indirectly.
It is that although the transactions do not occur from one wallet to another as in a traditional bitcoin exchange, a person can effectively spend their BTC to make practically any purchase of their daily life.
It is clear that using prepaid cards does not offer the privacy that bitcoin provides, but they have the advantage of expanding adoption —indirectly, we reiterate— in businesses, as well as facilitating access to the cryptocurrency ecosystem for more people.
In Argentina, there are currently three cards that allow, with their differences, to take advantage of the balance in cryptocurrencies. Just as the SatoshiTango and Xapo cards did years ago, today there are those of the Belo, Buenbit and Lemon brokers. Next, we will present how each one works and its particularities.
Prepaid cards and cryptocurrencies in Argentina
goodbit
The first of these cards to hit the streets was Buenbit’s, in August 2021. In this case, as a company representative explained to CriptoNoticias, it is a International Mastercard that offers a cashback (return) of 2% in cryptocurrencies after each consumption. These “prizes” for using the plastic are randomly given in bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), and DAI (DAI).
According to the company, the Buenbit card has two differentiating aspects to highlight. The first is the possibility to create a virtual card instantly after registering on the platform. With it you can operate immediately and, like the physical one, it can be configured for automatic debits to pay services and taxes.
In this sense, even the physical card demands a very short waiting time to dispose of it. Users who request it can receive it within 3 to 5 business days, depending on where they are in the country.
Another of its main advantages has to do with its use abroad. In Buenbit they affirm that their card It is the one that offers the best exchange rate between Argentine pesos and foreign currencies. when making a payment in any other country where Mastercard is accepted.
The Buenbit card has no maintenance costs and allows you to make withdrawals at ATMs. In Argentina, one withdrawal per month is free, while for subsequent ones ARS 79 plus VAT (value added tax) is charged. Abroad, the commission for this service is USD 5 plus VAT per withdrawal, according to what is reported in the website.
To be able to pay with the Buenbit card, the user must change his balance to pesos before making the purchase. Thus, for example, if someone has USD 15 in bitcoin in his account in the app, he must make the sale and store pesos. You cannot spend the cryptocurrencies and have Buenbit do the conversion automatically, although this is a feature they hope to add soon, they say.
Regarding the number of users, Buenbit has more than 600,000 registered in Argentina. Of them, approximately 10% use the prepaid card, that is to say that there are more than 60,000 plastics in the Argentine streets.
Lemon
The second to hit the slopes was Lemon’s card, which in this case is issued by the Visa payment processor. The so-called Lemon Card officially came out in November, and there are already more than 100,000 circulating in the country. This is a fact that the company proudly highlights, although they admit that such growth forced them to think of scalability solutions for the obstacles that arise.
With regard to the number of total users, both those who already have the card and those who requested it, Lemon claims to be “close to a milestone”, although they cannot give more details at the moment. The company has confirmed days ago its landing in Brazil, which will first be with a beta version with a limit of 10,000 users. Therefore, its user base in the region will surely increase.
Asked by CriptoNoticias about the most outstanding features of its product, one of Lemon’s co-founders, Marcelo Cavazzoli, highlighted the possibility of automatically converting the balance in cryptocurrencies to pesos. That is, the user does not have to make the exchange before paying, but simply select which cryptoactive he wants to spend before making a payment. This is precisely the biggest advantage that its developers highlight, especially for advanced users.
Furthermore, they ensure that the fixed cashback of 2% in BTC allows a first relationship with the ecosystem safely and without large investments, which is good for beginners.
Unlike the two of the competition, Lemon’s card does not have interoperability with ATMs —although some allow withdrawals, they clarify—, but it does support interaction with “the entire financial system, both fintechs and bank wallets.”
According to data provided by Lemon managers, 1 transaction is made per second using this app. This includes both the physical card and direct delivery with each user’s LemonTag.
beautiful
Belo, meanwhile, also offers a Mastercard. It is the “youngest” of the three, since it was presented in February 2022 with an event in the city of Buenos Aires.
As Manuel Beaudroit, CEO of Belo, commented to this medium, the strong point of this broker’s service is that, Apart from the physical card, it allows the creation of up to 10 virtual cards from the app. In this way, you can, for example, “do tests of online businesses without risk, because you can unsubscribe before they charge you” or also use a card “for each digital wallet”.
Another peculiar feature of Belo is that the cashback, which is paid in any of the cryptocurrencies available in the app, is random. The return to user percentage ranges from 0.1% to 21% in BTC, ETH, USD coin (USDC), DAI, or tether (USDT). This point, that of randomness, gives the service “a quota of gamification that people like,” says Beaudroit.
On the other hand, spending the balance in cryptocurrencies is also a possibility with this card. Even the app also allows you to “create a payment profile to select which currency to spend and in which order.”
The Belo card allows you to withdraw money at ATMs and is taken as a credit card by processors. To withdraw at ATMs, however, a commission of 2.5% of the withdrawal plus VAT is charged.
From the company they remarked to CriptoNoticias that the product has had a “very good” adoption. Although it was launched very recently, it is already in the hands of 20,000 people, and there are another 60,000 waiting for it to arrive. In total, the app has more than 100,000 users.
Bitcoin cards in Argentina are similar, but different
After analyzing in detail what particularities each of the cards presents to spend bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in Argentina, it can be said that they all look alike, but each one stands out in something. Be it the cashback, the digital card or the possibility of spending cryptocurrencies directly, they all have a characteristic stamp that makes them stand out.
One could even say, as a final detail, that they contribute to the self-esteem of the wearer. Is that surely all bitcoiners and fans of cryptocurrencies in the country will feel proud to answer affirmatively to the common question in business: “Is this the card that works with cryptocurrencies?”.