pedr0fr

bitcoin

Here is how the "Geneva bitcoin gift cards" work:
- For the purple card, you choose a value between 50 and 500 CHF (worth about $55 and $550) to pay at the counter. The black card has the fixed value of 500 CHF ($550).
- You pay the card value at the counter. In the case of the purple card, the vendor registers the value of the card. This can be done with cash KYC free.
- You visit https://cryptonow.ch/go to redeem the card. Scratch the PIN field in the back of the card to prove ownership. You also need to provide a phone number (swiss or not) and introduce the OTP sent by SMS.
- After that, the redeem process is complete. The fiat value of the card will be converted to bitcoin then and sent to the address on the card within 60 minutes. There is a 10% markup fee on the exchange rate.
- Scratch the private key field on the back of the card to control the bitcoin (I used the old Mycellium wallet).

Some remarks:
- The markup fee of 10% is too high. It's as high as a bitcoin ATM.
- Technically you can buy bitcoin KYC free using this method, just use a phone number that is not associated to your identity (not all countries do KYC when buying a SIM card).
- The process is cumbersome because it requires two transactions to secure your bitcoin. One to your gift card address and another to your a cold storage address. It would be much better if you were prompted for a bitcoin address on the redeem webpage. Unfortunately many bitcoin ATMs also use this two-transfer process.

Published on nostr: https://iris.to/note1p36rrmnz7gwd7ffkh3ns0ye7pfggh0avzne8sdrat0pxptm02h5st7z6qd

