Cryptocurrency cards are being issued left and right these days. Blockfi, one of the most popular bitcoin lending platforms, has joined the race and this Blockfi card review will give you an insight into what will the to-be launched card feature.
Credit card companies are constantly competing with one another in hopes that you will sign up for their card, using an array of techniques, enticing deals, low interest, air miles and a range of other tactics in hopes their card will be chosen as your method of payment.
One new card announced in December of last year is offering a new incentive for using their services: free Bitcoin. Rather than use the traditional methods of discounts, low-interest, and flexibility; this card uses a new approach. Created by the cryptocurrency loans platform BlockFi, in partnership with Visa, and help from Evolve bank and Deserve credit cards, this card rewards you for your usage and purchases with Bitcoin. By offering a card that rewards you in cryptocurrency, BlockFi and Visa will be attaining a whole new market of Bitcoin enthusiasts who have high hopes for the currency’s performance, seeing past the short-term benefits, as well as helping promote Bitcoin and making the more mainstream market aware of the currency.
It is important to note that this is the first credit card in the cryptocurrency environment. Other bitcoin and crypto cards such as the Coinbase card may come to mind, though this is merely a debit card that lets you pay in cryptocurrency, not to mention its exorbitant fees.
Blockfi card
The Blockfi card offers 1.5% cash back on purchases, without biasing certain categories either so there is no need to try and purchase certain things to take advantage of the card. Although the 1.5% Cashback is nice, the card does a require a 200$ a year payment which should be considered.
The card appears to be quite stylish. Featuring a sleek, fully metal design, the black card features a grey Bitcoin logo on the front, accompanied by BlockFi and Visa’s respective logos. This helps the card have a simple and minimalistic appearance.
Currently the card is only available to customers in the USA, though BlockFi is in the process of making the card available in a range of other regions, encouraging users from other regions to join their “waiting list” so that they are notified when the card becomes available to them. This waiting list became publicly available in January, previously the list was only available to existing customers of BlockFi.
Is it worth it?
Well so the big question, the card may look fantastic but is it actually worth the 200$ a year? Maybe. The card will accrue you 1.5% cash back on every purchase you make, which certainly does add up over time, coupling with bitcoin’s historic price growth, this cashback could become quite substantial over time if saved. This is an advantage that the BlockFi card has over traditional credit cards, in that your rewards could work for you once you’ve earned them. Though this benefit is a bit of a double-edged sword. Not only does it encourage you to not spend your cash-back which can be a bit disheartening, Bitcoin has also experienced major price drops in the past, this could mean you’ve spent all that time saving your rewards, purposefully not spending them, only to watch it crumble and be worth half of what you were earning.
The card does offer quite a tasty initial deal. If you are to spend over $3,000 in the first three months of use, you will receive a bonus of $250, this will clearly offset the $200 fee, giving you an extra $50 to play with, this is a pretty attractive deal and makes the card a real possibility for bigger spenders.
If you aren’t a big spender though, then the 200$ yearly price-tag is hard to avoid, it isn’t a ludicrous amount granted you are spending regularly, though it is quite a large figure when similar cards that reward you with cash at a similar rate, don’t carry this fee. Theoretically, you could use a card that offers cash rewards for a lesser or no annual fee, and just exchange that money into Bitcoin yourself. Although this does remove the smooth automatic transaction, it’s up to you to decide if that 200$ a year is worth the headache.
The card is still in its early stages, and BlockFi plans to add further features and benefits to the card as time goes on, hopefully these can make the card more accessible for smaller spenders. Some benefits that could be considered likely additions are warranty protections and travel protections due to the card’s connections with Visa, BlockFi have also previously hinted at purchase protections being added.
Conclusion
In Conclusion, the BlockFi card is certainly an interesting new project that has real world uses and is in the push for cryptocurrency and bitcoin to become more mainstream. Although the card isn’t the most lucrative for those with more minimalistic spending habits, it is still a fair proposition financially and helps cryptocurrency be taken seriously by those curious, with their Bitcoin rewards being a great way to make people familiar with the technology. Hopefully this will lead to Bitcoin being further integrated with traditional finance and will help increase the adoption of awareness of cryptocurrency in society.
