Category: Crypto Debit Cards

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Australia Crypto Debit Cards Crypto Exchange Crypto News

CEX.IO Exchange Announces Crypto-Backed Lending Platform Launch in Australia

CEX.IO, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, has announced the impending launch of a new cryptocurrency-backed loans service that will allow Australian crypto traders and holders to take out instant cash loans for their cryptocurrency assets.

Announced September 7, the new crypto loans service will become available in 217 countries around the world, including Australia, the United Kingdom, EU, and a range of Asian countries. CEX.IO LOAN will provide crypto users with the ability to borrow capital against their cryptocurrency holdings without the need for credit checks. 

$10 Billion Crypto Backed Loans Market Explodes in Australia

Data published by Credmark via Forbes reveals that crypto-backed lending is rapidly becoming one of the largest lending mechanisms in the blockchain ecosystem, with the crypto lending market reaching $8 billion in total lifetime loan originations by the end of 2019. The market has exploded in 2020, capturing another $2 billion by Q3 2020.

Crypto backed loans are relatively straightforward — users lock up their cryptocurrency with a loan provider, and are provided with a specific percentage of the assets locked as the loan principal. Recent changes to the tax treatment of cryptocurrency around the world have made crypto backed loans highly popular, as under specific international tax laws or in some scenarios a crypto loan allows users to access cash without creating a taxable event.

CEX.IO will provide users with the ability to borrow between $500 and $500,000, with larger and longer duration loans providing more attractive interest terms. Anton Chashchin, Commercial Director for the CEX.IO LOAN service, highlighted the various benefits of the crypto loans in a September 7 press release:

“Our clients are a vibrant and diverse group of market participants, whose needs evolve with the industry … Our loans offer that extra boost, which traders, investors, startups, and entrepreneurs in general, need, while they can still benefit from the potential appreciation of assets they own,”

Notably, CEX.IO will make loan funds available via a card — delivering additional crypto card functionality not yet seen in the crypto backed loans ecosystem.

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Australia Crypto Debit Cards

Crypto.com App adds AUD Bank Transfers Support

Crypto.com announced on 17th August that AUD Bank Transfers Now Available via their Mobile App.

This is great news for the MCO Visa Debit Card Holders as they can top up their crypto card without having to use a credit card or transferring crypto to the app.

You can access the new feature via the Fiat Wallet in the App and deposit cash via BPAY or NPP (PayID). Once enabled you will receive an email with the BPAY/NPP transfer details.

NPP takes an average of 1-4 business days for funds to appear in wallet, while BPAY takes an average of 3-5 business days.

How to do it

Also worth noting that “Future AUD withdrawal will only be available to users that have deposited via NPP”.

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Australia Crypto Debit Cards Trading

Revolut Officially Fully Launches in Australia as Waitlist Opens

Revolut is now officially fully available in Australia, allowing all Aussies to now download the cryptocurrency and stock trading app, create accounts and verify without joining a lengthy waiting list.

The UK-based fintech app executed a soft launch in Australia mid-2019, allowing a limited number of Australian users to create an account. The lengthy beta process, which saw the waiting list extend to over 30,000 users, is now complete, providing new users with the ability to create an account.

The Revolut app provides neobank financial services to over 12 million users worldwide, delivering a range of features that allow users to send and convert between 29 different currencies or withdraw cash from anywhere via a prepaid debit card that allows ATM withdrawals in 120 countries worldwide.

The most notable feature of the Revolut app is the cryptocurrency functionality it provides. Unlike Coinbase, or Australia-based cryptocurrency brokerage platform CoinJar, Revolut doesn’t actually allow users to send cryptocurrency out of the app itself — but users are able to invest.

Crypto Functionality Not Yet Available in Australia

Through the international version of the Revolut app, it’s possible to purchase and hold Bitcoin, Litecoin, XRP, Ethereum, and Bitcoin cash. Unlike Coinjar and other crypto exchange platforms, you aren’t provided with a wallet address for these cryptocurrencies — so it’s not possible to purchase them and send them elsewhere — but it is possible to buy and capitalize on price changes.

Australian Revolut users aren’t able to purchase cryptocurrency via the Revolut app just yet, however — the Australian release only provides money transfer and prepaid debit card services, including the issuance of Revolut’s premium metal debit card — the first of its kind available in Australia.

Revolut has stated that it will allow Australian users to access commission-free stock trading via the Revolut app alongside the ability to buy and hold cryptocurrency at a later date.

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Crypto Debit Cards

Crypto.com Ditch MCO Token and Offer +20% incentive CRO Swap

On August 3rd 2020, Crypto.com announced they will no longer support the MCO token. Instead they are urging all current MCO holders to switch to CRO by giving +20% extra value in CRO when swapping before September 3rd (using the App – instructions below).

MCO that is not swapped will still exist and circulate on the Ethereum blockchain as ERC-20 tokens, but Crypto.com will no longer support these tokens and no Crypto.com service or product will require or permit usage of these tokens.

~ crypto.com blog

This news comes as no surprise really considering the MCO brand is being phased out by the company and all their services now promote the CRO token as the main utility token.

How to Swap for Current MCO Card Holders

Current MCO debit card holders can perform the swap using their crypto.com mobile app (scroll to the bottom and click on the MCO / CRO Swap button).

Once done your transaction history will display the conversion amounts.

It is important to note that the 20% early swap bonus will be credited to your crypto.com Exchange wallet (not your app wallet) and will be held (staked) there for 6 months.

Why Swap MCO to CRO?

The main reason would obviously be to get the +20% early claim bonus. But if you take a look at the USD price of both MCO and CRO you can clearly see the difference with CRO +250% this year and MCO -30% approximately. It is clear which one i’d rather be holding.

CRO Price Trend

CRO PRICE USD – tradingview.com

MCO Price Trend

MCO PRICE USD – tradingview.com

If you haven’t already got your Crypto.com Debit card then you can check out our review here to see what it can do.

Categories
Australia Bitcoin Crypto Debit Cards Crypto Exchange

Revolut Hints Toward Australian Launch of New Crypto Service

Crypto, gold and stock trading platform has announced the launch of new cryptocurrency trading services across the United States, with the digital bank platform stating that Australia is next.

Revolut customers across 49 US states are now able to purchase, sell, and trade both Bitcoin and Ether on Revolut’s crypto platform. The UK-based platform launched services in the US in March 2020, but held off on launching crypto trading features due to regulatory hurdles.

The new crypto trading facilities provided by the platform are delivered in partnership with Paxos, a New York-based trust. In addition to assisting with the launch of Revolut’s new crypto trading feature set, Paxos is also launching a new crypto brokerage platform, providing custodial services for clients such as Revolut and handling regulatory compliance.

Paxos CEO Chad Cascarilla has stated that the new launch will streamline the process of entering the crypto market for firms, providing financial enterprises with access to APIs that deliver regulatory compliance and a range of technological capabilities that facilitate the purchase or sale of crypto. 

Revolut to Launch New Crypto Service for Aussies

Revolut crypto chief Edward Cooper expressed future plans for the new crypto trading capabilities of the Revolut platform, noting that the Asia-Pacific region — specifically Australia — will be the next country to access the new crypto trading feature set. 

“We’ll launch the core product first and then see what steps we need to make to launch the crypto product. We’ll probably be fastest to market in the Australian market, so I’d imagine Crypto Australia is next.”

In addition to cryptocurrency and security trading features, Revolut also provides users with the ability to spend cryptocurrency directly via crypto cards, a market currently limited within Australia.

Categories
Australia Crypto Debit Cards

AUD & NZD are now available on Crypto.com App

On July 5th 2020, the Crypto.com App added support for AUD & NZD as its latest payment currencies.

If you don’t know, the debit card by crypto.com allows you to spend your cryptos anywhere that accepts VISA or EFTPOS. I’ve been using it for months now and it’s been great! See my review of the MCO Bitcoin VISA Debit Card by Crypto.com.

The main benefits of using AUD being:

  • You can now view App balances in AUD (previously most Aussies had this set to SGD or USD.
  • You can purchase cryptocurrency directly with your credit card in AUD to save money on exchange rates that card issuers would otherwise charge you.

So far the full list of supported fiat currencies are AUD, NZD, USD, GBP, EUR, SGD and CAD.

For existing card users > How to change to AUD

  1. Open your mobile app
  2. Go to Settings (top left cog)
  3. Select payment currency > AUD

Your balance should now show in AUD.

Note: your MCO card screen will still show in SGD or USD. I’m not sure why you can’t change the card currency to AUD. Maybe this is something they will add soon. It doesn’t matter much as when you use the card it uses AUD then any other currency you have an active balance.