Topic: First prepaid card to exchange Bitcoins (Read 8066 times)

maybe you have to activate it via iban, ike this one?:

https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/anonymous-visa-debit-cards-with-own-iban-bank-account-216629

At least you looked to read those instructions.  I wasnt privy enough to check the documentation and wasn't able to activate the card. I tried contacting them but when I told them that I lost the PIN or instructions to activate it, they simply refused to respond. Such lousy customer service. -_-

Part of it was my fault I'll admit..however they are also at fault for false advertising. As I was ordering the card I saw nothing explaining how I'd have to activate it upon receiving it. I figured it was something I could just use right away, and thats the impression they gave, so under that impression why would anyone hurry to read the documentation? I was just excited to finally get it after a week of waiting. Such nonsense..they're not getting any more of my bitcoins.

Finally received my card but it will not activate using supplied instructions.

Now apparently they found my payment and will be sending me the card... Over 1 month late.  We shall see.

They are telling me that they can't locate my payment.  Very concerned that I'm out the money and have been scammed. We'll see what comes of this.

Nearly 1 month later and still no card.

Ok, so my cards arrived:



As you can see, no special branding, these are straight TransCash cards. You have to activate them (in French!) using a translation table provided by the site, heaven forbid there's an error message. This is far from seamless. Once you've activated them, you can buy coupons: http://thebitcoincard.co.uk/index.php/coupon - the rates are about 10% below spot (not sure if they've been updated recently?) - mtgox last is at 68.94 EUR, and they're buying the coins at 100 EUR for 1.611594 BTC, which is 62.05 EUR per BTC. All in all, the card is overpriced, the process is not seamless, and for an unbranded French card I'm not convinced it's worthwhile.

Marked and waiting for updates
Thanks

I bought one today as well.  We shall see how it goes.

Thank you. Keep me updated.

I've decided to chip in and purchase one:



Initial impressions: there is a distinct lack of automation on the site (they're using a single payment address instead of hitting the getnewaddress RPC function, and presumably confirming transactions manually). That doesn't preclude the service from working, nor does it indicate it's a scam, just that it's very new. I'm interested in seeing how I load funds into the card, at what rate, and what the costs are. The initial cost of the card is exceedingly high, but from the FAQ it seems that after 24 months when the card expires you can opt to get a new one - and there's no indication that there's an additional charge for this. I'll update with further info once the card arrives etc. etc.

I would call it scam, but I did not use it

I found only one user in this forum using this card successfully.

Is there anyone else who is using bitcoincard or ecardone with success?

Seems quite suspicious...

Attention! A company named: Dragensia ( dragensia.eu ) former ecardone.com who was seized by the US Gov. for money laundering!

This company posts in forums and article comments related to our card that is better to order with them!

We suggest to be highly warned, we TheBitcoinCompany are not in any relation with this company from the Czech Rep.!

It's very sad to see how this company use our reputation for a nice product to scam people with highly illegal business pratices, our lawyers are informed and do the required steps now on.

Please don't trust them at all, the practises they do confirm us how they work. If you order a card there you do that at your own risk!


Regards


TheBitcoinCard.co.uk

Just open an account at rietumu bank in latvia remotely, withdraw from Gox or p2p here or on IRC, then withdraw from ATM using their card. Though they may have cut off Americans like every other financial institution lately

According to recent US regulation they are and unlicensed Money Transmitter and as such will not be able to operate with in the US until they register with FinCEN as a Money Service Business and obtain Money Transmitter Licenses in any US state in which their clients reside.

MSB registration is free.

Money Transmitter licensing is required in 48 of the 50 State and in addition to extensive personal and financial background checks bonds are also required to be posted in each state.  In California it is aproximately $1.5M USD, New York State is $500,000 and these bonds amounts can fluctuate relative to the volume of business you conduct.

Essentially any business or individual you want to legally buy and sell bitcoin will be considered a "Financial Institution" and regulated as such.

All of which they were collecting at the Bitcoin Conference to open a new account. Alas, it was to be insufficient. I just logged into my account to load my newly authorized Bitcoin MasterCard with a bitcoin payment for the first time, where I was met with:


Such wasted promise....

The recent Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) guidance  basically requires anyone dealing in buying or selling bitcoin to comply with the US Treasurey's Bank Secrecy Act's guidlines for Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Know Your Customer (KYC) and to implement a Customer Information Program (CIP) which requires them to collect:

(1) the name;
(2) date of birth (for an individual);
(3) an address, which will be a residential or business street address (for an individual), an Army Post Office (APO) or Fleet Post Office (FPO) box number, or residential or business street address of next of kin or another contact individual (for an individual who does not have a residential or business street address), or a principal place of business, local office, or other physical location (for a person other than an individual); and
(4) an identification number, which will be a taxpayer identification number (for U.S. persons), or one or more of the following: a taxpayer identification number, passport number and country of issuance, alien identification card number, or number and country of issuance of any other government-issued document evidencing nationality or residence and bearing a photograph or other similar safeguard (for non-U.S. persons). 


Welcome to the new world of bitcoin in the US.

   

This had great potential. But, it was ruined by the professionalism of the owner. They have gone by making their website mostly private which required you to sign up and reveal email etc. Then they have got closed down, many times and have continued to open up their website.

+1
Have a card with them, account moved to new domain, everything still seems to work fine ... from eu customer using card in Sweden.