New card that gives 1.5% back in Bitcoin announced.

[ExGingi]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-01/visa-joins-with-startup-blockfi-for-bitcoin-rewards-credit-card

This sounds totally crazy, with such a volatile currency.

[Samb]

and a $200 annual fee?!?!?!? 

[ExGingi]

and a $200 annual fee?!?!?!?

I cashed out yesterday on a tiny purchase of GBTC I made in a dormant HSA account for a very significant gain over a couple of months. The big believers in BTC think it's going to the stratosphere, while the USD is going down the drain. A US$200 fee is nothing in that context.

[Shaya E]

I cashed out yesterday on a tiny purchase of GBTC I made in a dormant HSA account for a very significant gain over a couple of months. The big believers in BTC think it's going to the stratosphere, while the USD is going down the drain. A US$200 fee is nothing in that context.

Why not just buy $200 dollars worth of bitcoin and use your cash rewards to buy more. Unless I'm mistaken they aren't paying a set amount of BTC. Instead they will give 1.5% at the time.

[ExGingi]

Why not just buy $200 dollars worth of bitcoin and use your cash rewards to buy more. Unless I'm mistaken they aren't paying a set amount of BTC. Instead they will give 1.5% at the time.

Who's buying BTC in such small increments?

I am not saying this is a good deal, nor do I really understand how it will work. I am just trying to get the thinking behind it.

People that actually invest/speculate in Bitcoin will probably not get this (unless it's for geeky reasons), it's for the masses that heard about bitcoin, want to have some, think this will actually be an appreciating currency, but can't be bothered to acquire bitcoin through other methods.

[yoyo6713]

would have worked really well when I first looked at it, trading at 15 cents a coin :-)

[yos9694]

You can buy BTC in any reasonable increment you want, certainly $200 at a time is fine. The exchange fees are typically % of transaction so it isn't any less efficient either

BTW I also posted about a debit card that will give 4% cash back in BTC. I get that a dc is not a cc but its much more lucrarive

[PlatinumGuy]

Human behavior isn't controlled solely by logic.

[Mordyk]

would have worked really well when I first looked at it, trading at 15 cents a coin :-)

Please tell me you "invested" at that point?

[joshnuss]

https://techcrunch.com/2021/01/14/gemini-is-launching-a-credit-card-with-bitcoin-rewards/

Everyone getting in on the fun..

[yos9694]

I got an invite from gemini. 3% back in coins. Imagine buying something, returning it 3 days later, and the clawback is 10x what you received in rewards 😂

[Yo ssi]

I got an invite from gemini. 3% back in coins. Imagine buying something, returning it 3 days later, and the clawback is 10x what you received in rewards 😂

Lol

Its more dependent on what day you pay up

[Palm5]

The more mainstream btc becomes which it is, the likelihood of it going away is slim to none.

[Shaya E]

The more mainstream btc becomes which it is, the likelihood of it going away is slim to none.

Agreed. Ironically, the higher it goes, the safer it is. That is in direct contrast with most publicly traded investments.

[Mordyk]

Agreed. Ironically, the higher it goes, the safer it is. That is in direct contrast with most publicly traded investments.

How does it become safer?  It literally dropped 25% last week. From $41 to $31 and back to $38. Imagine a regular currency fluctuating like that

[Shaya E]

How does it become safer?  It literally dropped 25% last week. From $41 to $31 and back to $38. Imagine a regular currency fluctuating like that

It obviously isn't a regular currency. But I don't think there is any question that if bitcoin becomes globally accepted as a valid currency that it's worth a lot more than it's going for right now. The more it starts being used and the more mainstream it becomes, the more likely that is to happen. Bitcoin's biggest (only?) threat is not being accepted as a valid currency.

All of the above, however, is about its long term prospects. Short term is obviously different and people could lose a ton of money because of the wild fluctuations.

[yos9694]

I used to believe that Bitcoins biggest threat was alt-coins and specifically Ethereum. The BTC ledger does nothing but record transactions (i.e. what happened) but ETH also accepts programming (i.e. if -> then, smart contracts, can issue alt coins to represent tangible assets like houses and cars), which seemed like a significant value-add. Logically too, the first to market tech isn't always the best version of the tech because others stand on their shoulders and build. But so far they're enjoying name recognition status and staying far in the lead - so I hold by my prediction but my timing is clearly too early.

[ExGingi]

I used to believe that Bitcoins biggest threat was alt-coins and specifically Ethereum. The BTC ledger does nothing but record transactions (i.e. what happened) but ETH also accepts programming (i.e. if -> then, smart contracts, can issue alt coins to represent tangible assets like houses and cars), which seemed like a significant value-add. Logically too, the first to market tech isn't always the best version of the tech because others stand on their shoulders and build. But so far they're enjoying name recognition status and staying far in the lead - so I hold by my prediction but my timing is clearly too early.

Ethereum is indeed a giant leap forward. I actually got a personal crash course/explanation about it from one of the developers. (He happened to text me recently saying he hopes I jumped into crypto after his explanation).

BTC has its place even though it's technologically inferior to Ethereum.

[CardNut]

How does it become safer?  It literally dropped 25% last week. From $41 to $31 and back to $38. Imagine a regular currency fluctuating like that

If you are able to buy on the dips with rewards, it might not be bad. If this card was available 5 years ago, it would have been the best rewards card out there. Looking at 🕯 stick charts to check out your rewards balance might be a little unnerving.

[williamrenirez]

Ethereum is indeed a giant leap forward. I actually got a personal crash course/explanation about it from one of the developers. (He happened to text me recently saying he hopes I jumped into crypto after his explanation).

BTC has its place even though it's technologically inferior to Ethereum.

For a long time I noticed that these two cryptocurrencies are competing with each other. From an economic point of view, this is a great trend because there is competition.