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We need instant CC and debit ways to purchase as well as paypal to get unlinked completely and that means we need a very large financial institution that can handle the load and get the insurance for that volume.
We do - and I am gagging for this to happen. I have been looking at prepaid CCs which you can load up directly with XMR - and to a certain extent they do exist (Uquid etc.) However, anymore than around $2500 (or GBP) in the lifetime use of the card and you need KYC / AML verification, as well as a conversation with your accountant that will mean a proper and difficult audit of your profit and loss after many years in crypto.
I don't really want to convert XMR to BTC and then exit exchanges in USD which needs to be then converted to GBP (for me) to finally end up in my bank account for all who wish to ask me about the BTC I have cashed in.
I would love to be able to buy directly in XMR, which would be great for developing an XMR real-world economy, but this seems an age away.
Monero is the ultimate private money, but right now it is hard to keep it that way when you actually want to spend it.
Thanks for that info! So If I get a Uquid card and add funds from paypal or one of the other means then it stores XMR or the USD equivalent? IOW If I just want to buy when I feel the market is low can I use this to store XMR and then send it to an exchange immediately?
And your right converting to fiat is not only cumbersome but deanonimizing.
From what they
say, you can actually load XMR directly onto this card and it gets converted into currency - choose GBP / EUR / USD.
However, read up - loading up is a window that closes over time, you pay for the physical card (or less for a 'virtual card') and its lifetime use is limited to 2500 USD or GBP and no more. Fees apply and you need to check them out thoroughly - but it looks like an unverified way to put crypto onto a visa card and simply spend it. It's not anonymous, but it's not so deanominising, either. My accountant won't say 'where did this money come from?' so often.
There are other companies and cards - Bitpay do one in the US only etc. which is no good to me, I am not in the USA. Uquid claim to take a whole range of crypto directly and convert it to cash on the card - pre-paid.
But note that I have not tried any of these cards YET. I want to soon, but I am doing more research before I go for it. All of these card suppliers (I found five or six on a good google search) seem to have Visa network access (very practical), but are not massive companies, often start ups. Some of them hold crypto in a wallet off-card and some of them put fiat onto the card instantly at rates I cannot see (although they say 'no transaction fees' for load up with crypto).
If anyone else can report back on usage - particularly with XMR as the crypto, I would love to know. If I take the plunge before I hear, I will pass on what I learn.
The main thing I seek is to spend XMR as frictionlessly as possible on a purchase without going through endless time-consuming transactions leading ultimately to my bank... to THEN spend it.
At the moment I buy BTC with XMR, sell it - go via a registered exchange to my bank losing on exchanging costs and fees at each step. Also, while I am not necessarily seeking to hide it, it's ironic how 'visible' all these steps are in spite of me starting with 'private money' which I want to simply spend.
It's early days, but taking my g/f out for dinner or a weekend away with a little fancy shopping and paying all in Monero via a Visa card would feel damn good... and probably get her to take my screen time a bit more seriously.