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Where to buy Gold-Backed Cryptocurrencies in 2021

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If you want to get involved in the gold-backed cryptocurrency space, you’re probably debating on where the best place to buy them is. Fortunately, we’ve got you covered. In this guide, we’ll go over the best places to buy such assets.

Gold Backed Crypto Exchange

A gold-backed crypto exchange is pretty much the best place to invest in such assets. For one, these are the platforms that generate stablecoins. They offer the most value for your investment, often providing quality-of-life trading features and wallets for storage. Some also enable you to invest anonymously.

Not only this, but these exchanges often allow you to redeem your digital gold for physical bullion. Of course, you may have to reveal your identity for this, so they can provide it to the right person.

Such platforms generally audit their holdings and make the results publicly available for trust’s sake. Some are even available 24/7 for the ultimate ability to check their legitimacy.

Specific exchanges allow you to invest in fractional amounts of gold, too, increasing the asset’s accessibility. You can put in as little or as much as you’d like – an option not possible on traditional exchanges.

Binance

Binance is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world regarding market cap. It offers support for thousands of cryptocurrencies, many of which being gold-backed stablecoins.

On Binance, you can fund your account with a bank or other crypto and convert nearly any asset into a stablecoin. It’s all up to you, assuming the asset is listed. The platform offers various trading features as well, making it ideal for both beginner and expert traders.

If you’re a big investor, you can earn BNB, the platform’s stablecoin, which helps cover some trading fees. Saving you money, a dedicated stablecoin works wonders for many traders.

If you’re interested in branching off from stablecoins, Binance has tons of detailed documentation on the crypto industry for you to consume. Finally, this exchange has a wallet for you to store your assets within as well. While Binance isn’t a dedicated gold-backed cryptocurrency exchange, it’s definitely a decent alternative.

Coinbase

Based in San Francisco, Coinbase is a popular mainstream cryptocurrency exchange. Because of this, it’s much more selective in its offerings. Still, the underlying support makes it a great space to buy gold backed cryptocurrencies.

Like Binance, Coinbase has a wallet for online storage. It also contains a ton of documentation for learning about stablecoins and other crypto industry staples. If you live in the UK, there’s even a physical debit card, Coinbase Card, for spending on the go.

Beginner traders have more than enough features to make an educated purchase. However, if you’ve been in the space for a while, Coinbase has a pro exchange with more information than Binance. Just note that Coinbase has more expensive trading fees than most other exchanges. It’s a reliable platform, however, which is what you’re paying for.

Gemini

Gemini is a cryptocurrency exchange founded by the Winklevoss Twins of Facebook fame. The project is regulated by the New York Department of Financial Services. It’s often undergoing bank exams and audits as well. These regulations make it a great platform for trading gold-backed cryptocurrencies.

They’re the first crypto platform to hold the SOC 1 Type 2 and SOC 2 Type 2 compliance certificates as well. Gemini even offers hardware keys and insurance coverage for all assets stored on the platform.

Gemini offers various products such as its mobile app, a custody platform, an earn space, and even its own stablecoin. That stablecoin, the Gemini Dollar, is tied to the value of USD. It can be used to trade with gold-backed stablecoins, among other assets, similar to Binance’s BNB asset.

Otherwise, signing up on Gemini is relatively easy, though it does require you to verify your identity, among other things. If you’re looking for anonymity, this isn’t the platform for you. It does list a fair amount of gold-backed cryptocurrencies, however.

Finally, just like Binance and Coinbase, Gemini has its own offering of learning documents to educate yourself further on the cryptocurrency industry.

Where to buy Gold-Backed Cryptocurrencies in 2021

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Best Bitcoin Debit Cards to Use in 2021

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Best Bitcoin Debit Cards to Use in 2021

Wondering what the most popular Bitcoin debit cards available in 2021? This article talks about the top Bitcoin debit cards that can let you spend cryptocurrency. 

Table of Contents 

  • What are Bitcoin Debit Cards?
  • Popular Bitcoin Debit Cards You Should Know 
  • Concluding Lines 

What are Bitcoin Debit Cards?

Bitcoin is now over 12 years old, and since then, it has seen several ups and downs. Although its journey has been tough throughout, the digital currency continues to remain under the limelight, reaching an all-time high of over $60K. Despite such price rise, the prospect of buying digital assets remains daunting, especially for beginners. But yes, the introduction and availability of user-friendly crypto debit cards simplify the process to a large extent. 

Bitcoin debit cards allow people to spend money anywhere debit cards are accepted. Such cards aim to transform financial services while introducing major improvements in transaction speed, security, and privacy. 

Instead of exchanging BTCs into local currencies, debit cardholders preload their card with a set amount of cryptocurrency, which is automatically converted at the purchase time.   

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Popular Bitcoin Debit Cards You Should Know 

Coinbase 

Introduced back in 2012, Coinbase is one of the leading mainstream cryptocurrency exchanges all across the globe. Launched by the same name, the Coinbase Card allows cardholders to spend digital cryptocurrency anywhere where Visa is accepted. Users can use this card to make online and in-store payments and also for ATM withdrawals.

This debit card supports several currencies, including the three most popular cryptocurrencies Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin. The card automatically converts your favored digital currency in your Coinbase wallet on-demand, so users don’t need to keep a fiat currency balance in their account. One of the major benefits of using this card is that it offers several security features, such as a mobile wallet app, two-factor identification, immediate card freeze, spending tracking, etc. 

Here it is important to note that if you want to get started with this debit card, all you have to do is to make a Coinbase account. The only drawback associated with this is that it charges excessive fees. 

Wirex

Based in the U.K. with offices in North America, Asia, and Eastern Europe, the multi-currency Visa card makes spending your crypto a breeze. It allows users to switch between digital assets and fiat currency at OTC and interbank rates. The card supports 19 cryptocurrencies and nearly a dozen fiat currencies. The best part is that cardholders pay no issuance, monthly, or withdrawal fees, and just a 1% fee to fund accounts with digital currencies. 

If you want to avail the best benefits of this card, all you have to do is to maintain a balance of staked native tokens called ‘WXT.’ It is known for being user-friendly, its real-time point of sale conversions, fee-less exchanges, and most excitingly allowing approximately 1.5% bitcoin rewards on all purchases. 

Binance 

Similar to the Coinbase debit card, the Binance Card holds digital currency in the user’s wallet and converts when needed at the time of purchase. All you have to do is simply top-up your card with funds in Bitcoin or BNB through the Binance Card App. Such debit cards can be used in-store, and for making online purchases anywhere, Visa is accepted. It is user-friendly and is as simple as transferring BNB from one wallet to the other. The debit card will then use this Balance for your card payments and deduct all expenses whenever payment occurs, making the process much simpler. The only drawback with this card is that it is restricted only in the region of Europe, and you need to maintain balance in Binance’s cryptocurrency for cashback rewards. The major benefits of using this card include:

  • Upto 8% cashback
  • No monthly fees
  • Free Card
  • Convert crypto on demand

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BitPay

This card supports six major cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, along with eight diverse fiat currencies and is available in almost 50 states. Like other cards, this card can also be used anywhere MasterCard is accepted and withdraw cash from MasterCard-supported ATMs. The best part about this card is that it charges no transaction fees for purchases made within the U.S. but does charge upto 3% to cardholders traveling abroad. In addition, another advantage is that it charges no conversion fee to load the card; however, miner fees may apply. It has higher transaction and balances limits, allowing people to load or spend up to $10,000 in a day. The major drawbacks with this card are that it demands a $10 card issue fee, 3% foreign transaction fee, and demands monthly inactivity fee after 90 days. 

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Concluding Lines 

Bitcoin debit cards create a seamless transition from cryptocurrency conversion to purchase or withdrawal and come with several security features such as two-factor authentication, biometric scanning, and mobile codes. Apart from the cards mentioned above, there are several other options available such as BlockCard, BlockFi, Nexo Card, and many others, each having its own perks and drawbacks. 

With so many choices available, which do you prefer? Let us know in the comment section below. 

To get instant updates about Blockchain Technology and to learn more about online Blockchain Certifications, check out Blockchain Council. 

Best Bitcoin Debit Cards to Use in 2021

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Coinbase becomes a Visa Principal Member to double down on debit card

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Cryptocurrency company Coinbase has been working with Paysafe to issue the Coinbase Card, a Visa debit card that works with your Coinbase account balance. The company is now a Visa Principal Member, which should help Coinbase rely less on Paysafe and control a bigger chunk of the card payment stack.

Coinbase says it is the only cryptocurrency company that has reached that level of certification. The company will offer the Coinbase Card in more markets in the future. The new status could open up more possibilities and features as well.

While Coinbase originally launched the Coinbase Card in the U.K., it is now available in 29 European countries. It works with any Visa-compatible payment terminal and ATM. Users can decide in the app which wallet they want to use for upcoming transactions. This way, you can spend money in 10 cryptocurrencies.

There are some conversion fees just like on Coinbase. In addition to those fees, there can be some additional fees if you withdraw a lot of money or make a purchase abroad. More details here.

Still, half of users who ordered a card are actively using it. The U.K., Italy, Spain and France are the main markets so far. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies might not replace Visa and Mastercard just yet, so traditional debit cards represent a good alternative for now.

Read more: https://techcrunch.com/2020/02/19/coinbase-becomes-a-visa-principal-member-to-double-down-on-debit-card/

Coinbase launches debit card in the UK

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When you buy cryptocurrencies on Coinbase, many users simply don’t know what to do with them. Customers in the U.K. can now get a good old plastic card and spend cryptocurrencies in-store and on any online website.

This is a Visa card, so it should work with any merchant on the Visa network. The company is launching a separate mobile app called Coinbase Card to manage your cryptocurrency balances. For instance, you’ll be able to choose whether you want to use your Bitcoin, Ethereum or Litecoin balance with your card.

The app supports any cryptocurrency currently available on Coinbase. There’s no need to transfer crypto assets from the main Coinbase app to the Coinbase Card app — the card grabs cryptocurrencies directly from your Coinbase account.

The card supports contactless payments as well as ATM withdrawals. Transactions appear instantly in the app with the details of the exchange rate.

Now let’s talk about fees. Ordering a card costs £4.95 ($6.50) — the first 1,000 customers can get it for free. Each transaction costs 2.49 percent in fees — 1.49 percent in conversion fee and 1 percent in transaction fee. If you spend money in other European countries, it costs 2.69 percent in fee. Outside of Europe, it costs 5.49 percent per transaction — maybe you should consider using another card in this situation.

The chargeback processing fee is quite expensive as well, as it costs £20 ($26.20). There’s no maintenance fee, no additional cost for ATM withdrawals as long as you withdraw less than £200 per month.

Behind the scene, Paysafe is issuing the card. Apto Payments, the company formerly known as Shift Payments, is developing the Coinbase Card app. You may remember that Coinbase previously partnered with Shift Payments to issue a card in the U.S. But you can’t get a Coinbase card in the U.S. anymore.

Eventually, Coinbase plans to roll out the Coinbase Card in other European countries.

Read more: https://techcrunch.com/2019/04/10/coinbase-launches-debit-card-in-the-uk/