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22 sats \ 7 replies \ @phygit 19 Sep 2023 \ on: Any experiences with Xapo Bank? bitcoin
I used them in 2014-2016. Was my first crypto-card. They offered a quite cool (actually cold) secured vault in Swiss. Very serious company, solid products, good vibes back then. I used to be happy with them. But then they more or less drifted away. Not sure exactly what happened, but the card was discontinued and I left (went later on to Wirex, one of the shittiest experience in my cryptolife, but that's another story...).
Anyway, I saw that Xapo is trying to make a big comeback and I'm quite tempted to try TBH. Not sure the same founder/CEO (Casares) is still in charge though.
What happened to you at Wirex to have that horrible experience?
I know they own your money, they asked me for full KYC when creating the account, and they trade in shitcoins, but they have one of the best savings percentages (+6% in BTC) and a functional card in the world.
It is not to leave all your capital, but a part and let it grow, in addition to being able to use your card when necessary (online purchases where Bitrefill or similar do not reach).
I've used other services in the past (banks, neobanks, and exchanges), and so far Wirex is one of the best.
Regarding Xapo. I'm not going to pay anything to use any bank. And even less so when I intend to save only part of my capital and, above all, to use their card.
For those who are interested in the banks, neobanks and exchanges that I have used, here are some:
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BNext: Spanish neobank. It didn't give many options and his card always failed.
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ING bank: they blocked my access to my account for 2 weeks. Without reasons. As soon as they gave me access, I switched to another bank.
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Openbank: My current bank. The best in terms of traditional. 0 problems.
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Binance: I used your card for an entire year, every day. 0 problems
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Wirex: current, 0 problems to date with card or account.
TBH, I'm really considering using Bitwage (which @Darthcoin mentions so much), but since I would probably continue using my current bank, I don't feel like creating another account right now.
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I also tried many neobanks and cryptobanks. Stayed away from traditional bank for about 10 years now.
I know it will not please people to say this here, but the best crypto bank/card I know is in the Ethereum world. It's called Monolith and it's nothing short of amazing: a totally non custodial wallet linked to a prepaid Visa. You upload ETH or any tokens to your card when you need to use it, while keeping full custody of your money. Simple as pie, decent fees, works like charm.
I've been wondering for long why there isn't anything similar in the Bitcoin world. I saw a few things in the past, but I don't think they survived. Maybe I'm wrong but if you know a non custodial Bitcoin wallet linked to a bank card, I'm definitely interested.
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Ugh... I just looked at the page, and I didn't like the initial logo AT ALL, with that eye.
Too "Illuminati" and conspiratorial. And on top of that in ETH, with its own TKN token and you would have to read the T&C... no way.
Pay with moon (https://paywithmoon.com) is the card that I liked the most, and it supports Bitcoin, but it has certain restrictions with its use, merchants, etc.
It's a shame, because it looks fabulous.
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Not crazy about the eye either but like the monolith. Probably a generational thing (Space Odyssey and stuff).
You don't need to use TKN token. Never had a single one and been using their card for years...
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My story with Wirex is a very long story, and a bit lazy to go through it extensively. But, in short:
I started using Wirex before it even was called Wirex. Used it for years and at one point, it was my main account...
I got all the possible problems with them:
..repeated bugs: including incredible bugs for a bank (discrepancies in displayed amounts) (I was among the ones debugging their apps, found huge bugs multiple times but never got any reward for it BTW)
.. blocked account for no reason
.. insanely bad admin: took me several month to change my postal address after moving...
About 2 years after officially closing my account, I still receive emails asking me to upgrade my account. What a joke.
All in all, despite being an early adopter and even spending quite a lot of energy promoting Wirex all over the Web, my experience with them was simply AWFUL.
Frankly, I was a bit sad about it, as I initially thought Wirex was the kind of company that could make a difference. Maybe they improved, and I'm glad you're happy with it. But I have so many bad memories associated with it (including dozens of messages to their customer support and hours of pain) that I would stay out of it forever.
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Not the first time I hear something similar. Thanks for sharing.
I'm looking for a card free of KYC that I can use on the fiat world with my Bitcoin, for online expenses.
No luck.
With that, I can finally remove any bank, exchange and so.
Meanwhile, I'll be changing from a platform to another.