A lot of people are also upset because they signed up for the beta paid a $15 fee with the promise that there wouldn't be any additional fees. 2 days ago, they decided to institute a $5 a month account fee.
So they charge a 1% fee to fund the account with a wire transfer.
Can someone explain -- I am not attacking this, I am seriously wondering -- why anyone would wire funds into this account, pay a 1% fee, and then pay with a debit card like they could from any other bank account?
(I get if you already have bitcoin, but I'm wondering what the point of the wire transfer support is.)
Source: http://help.xapo.com/questions/94070-Does-Xapo-charge-a-fee-...
> Request early access... invite 20 of your friends!
No thanks
Also, your password to the account is a 4-digit pin? What?
Xapo isn't the first to do this. ANXBTC[1] in Hong Kong has been doing this for a couple of months now.
And they ship the card to the US, among other countries.
This is interesting, an odd mishmash. whilst the FAQ is big it is not specific - eg 'we are not a prepaid debit card' (do you have a deposit license?) ... 'We automatically withdraw money from your xapo wallet' (and that doesn't count as preloading?).
To me, it looks like they've taken a standard visa backed prepaid debit card (although not putting visa logo on it I thought was a breach of scheme rules). They've added a nice ui, and wrap around of saying you can use bit coins.
However. Bitcoins stops at the point of actually using the card, where they convert it into the issuing country's currency (assume here: Usd). You're still using visa / other scheme network to transact and they don't take bitcoins.
The other comments are bang on and prepaid cards are immensely profitable with trxn fees to load them up, and 'hidden' fees for doing fx. What's odd here is that people using bitcoin are presumably doing it because they like the idea of not having to pay for all that crap! Much comment about how the funds are insured for 100% against any loss - but no mention of FDIC...
They charge a 3% fee for currency conversion, and that's every transaction since you are paying with bitcoin.
Is this similar to CoinJar's Swipe?
Does it have chip & pin? It will need that to work well in Canada.
Fees. Hundreds of bloody fees.
FYI:
Unfortunately, due to financial regulations in the U.S. and India, Xapo cannot currently ship debit cards to addresses located in the U.S. or India. --> http://help.xapo.com/95428-Is-the-Xapo-Debit-Card-available-...