Is BasedApp Visa Debit Card The Answer To Effortless Web3 Banking?

I have always been on the lookout for simple and easy solutions that the average retail user can easily onboard Web3 and start using in our daily lives. It wasn’t long before the BasedApp Visa Debit Card popped up on my radar.

After getting on the waitlist for quite some time, I was eventually notified that I was able to join BasedApp ahead of others because I was one of their early supporters.

For your information, BasedApp is currently only available for users in Singapore.

How Much Do We Have To Pay For The BasedApp Visa Debit Card?

According to the BasedApp website, the usual price for the BasedApp Visa Debit Card is SGD$19. However, we are currently able to apply and get it for free!

How To Get Started After Receiving The Official BasedApp Invite?

You’ll need to click the sign-up link from the email, and there are different ways of getting started.

For the signup process, we can rely on:

1. Social log-in (phone number, email or Google Account) powered by Magic Link
2. Connect with an external blockchain wallet that we already own

Coming from the perspective of an average retail user, I chose to use an email address so that I could abstract away the need for managing any keys with my BasedApp account and see how well it worked.

This also means that there is no need to set and remember any passwords with BasedApp.

Each login attempt with a new device or web browser will send an email to our email address for authentication purposes.

The application process turned out to be effortless with Singpass being used for KYC.

Web-Only UI: Send, Receive or Swap

The BasedApp user interface is fairly simple, and it is extremely easy to navigate.

Our BasedApp account is associated with a smart wallet that is only supported for use with the Polygon blockchain for now.

The following tokens appear to be supported: XSGD, USDC, USDT, DAI, MATIC, WETH and WBTC.

Before we can top up our Visa debit card, we must first transfer funds into the associated wallet.

To test my account, I transferred in a bunch of MATIC tokens and used the swap function native to BasedApp to convert them into XSGD.

XSGD is a stablecoin pegged to the Singapore Dollar, and Polygon is one of the blockchains it runs on.

As far as I can tell, the swap is performed on a decentralized exchange so the rates could potentially be volatile.

One plus point to highlight is that transactions on the BasedApp web interface are gas-free and we do not have to pay for transaction fees.

Topping Up My BasedApp Visa Debit Card

To reduce friction and simplify the top-up process, we can either deposit XSGD into our BasedApp Visa debit card at a 1:1 rate, or we can do a swap-and-deposit instead.

This means that tokens like USDC can be converted into XSGD and used to top up our BasedApp Visa debit card in one single transaction.

However, when I tried it out, the first half of the transaction (swap) was completed but the second half of the transaction (top-up) failed.

In the end, it took another deposit transaction to complete the process – no big deal.

One interesting feature that I noticed was that SGD from the BasedApp Visa debit card can actually be withdrawn from the card into our wallet, which is pretty rare!

For the record, it states that it may take up to 7 days to be processed.

Spending With My BasedApp Visa Debit Card

Once we have confirmed that funds are in our BasedApp Visa debit card, the next part is easy.

We would be able to use the BasedApp Visa debit card with any merchant that accepts Visa.

To try out the cap, I dropped by Ya Kun to purchase a cup of coffee and paid by Visa PayWave.

The transaction went without a hitch, and I was sipping my coffee in no time.

BasedApp Visa Debit Card is issued by Xfers / StraitsX

The BasedApp Crypto Visa Debit Card is issued by Xfers Pte Ltd, which holds a Major Payment Institution license for e-money issuance under the Payment Services Act.

StraitsX is the trading name of Xfers Pte Ltd, and XSGD is issued by StraitsX.

Ending Thoughts on BasedApp

I’m always on the lookout for cool new products to test and review.

The BasedApp Visa Debit Card is certainly a step in the right direction, in addition to Crypto.com which has already been in the Visa debit card game for quite a while.

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Kevin

Kevin started Turtle Investor when his net worth languished at negative $25,755. His desire to turn things around led him to build passive income from investments and side hustles that pay for all his daily expenses and overseas vacations. You can learn more about Kevin here.