I have never been an advocate of cryptocurrency. I see it as being more speculation than investment at this point in time. Just go to forums or Reddit for whichever coins you’re interested in and be amused.
That’s not to say there is no merit to it, or that one definitely shouldn’t go near it. Ask fundamental questions like, what real-world problem is this cryptocurrency start-up trying to solve that traditional means can’t? Is it simply moving an existing solution to the crypto-universe for the sake of acquiring hot money? Tread carefully.
One possible awesome thing to come out of it is the Monaco Pre-Paid Visa Card. Touted as an avenue for holders of cryptocurrency to cash out and spend their coins, it has a surprisingly fantastic use-case for frequent travelers.
For a start, you don’t even have to dabble with cryptocurrency to utilize it. From the official website, it states that you can top up with bank transfer, debit/credit card (hint hint potential air-miles chaser), Bitcoin and Ether. Still, is it subjected to top-up fees? And how much? I don’t know anything yet, for now.
But what’s so great about a simple VISA pre-paid card?
- $2,000 interbank exchange rates limit
According to Monaco, “your card will always be treated as a local currency card and you will get perfect interbank exchange rates, wherever you are.” It would be ridiculously awesome if it works as advertised. - $200 free ATM withdrawal limit
Imagine on an overseas trip and running out of funds due to emergencies? The free ATM withdrawal would be a godsend. - No monthly or annual fees
No hassle of getting waivers etc. - Free shipping
If it’s free, it’s good enough for me. - No MCO Purchase
Unless you’re going for one of their premium cards, the most basic edition costs nothing. You don’t even have to buy their coins (called MCO Tokens) to use their cards.
If you have existing Bitcoins or Ether in your wallets, would you want to tie those virtual coins to real-world usage? Singapore is the first and only country, as of now, to have the Monaco Pre-Paid VISA Card. Global domination is next on their road-map. TODAY Online (sourced from Bloomberg) reported this piece of news yesterday, but suspiciously no other mainstream media in Singapore reported the official tie-up between Monaco and VISA.
Well, since it costs me nothing (my advice is to skip the premium cards), I have reserved my free card. The waiting list is currently at 20,000 when I last checked, and slowly inching upwards.
Due to my stupidity, I signed up without using any referral code and missed out on a free US$10 credit. If you’re interested, don’t make the same mistake as I did and remember sign up with a referral code.
Disclosure :
If you use my code, lucky you will get US$10 credit; but I don’t get ANY money at all. What I do get in return, is that my queue number in the waiting list will get pushed forward – and I can do publish a review of the Monaco Pre-Paid VISA Card as soon as I get it. Win-win!
Updated 4th Nov 2017 :
The man has spoken! GMGH shared the some very useful info at the comments below. I dug around TenX website and found this table (no guarantee of the accuracy) for reference. Seems like most of you are just as skeptical of emerging technology as I am, and a handful (read, less than 5) have signed up via my link. For those of you who did, well I guess you can happily test the card with the US$10 credit? I’ll put in some of my real money to do my own test when the time comes, and thanks to the helpful bunch, I’m now among the first 1,000 in queue 😀
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Hi TI,
First off, I would like to clarify that Visa does not work directly with any of these crypto card companies and they are all sourced through issuers.
Monaco has been one of the more questionable projects in the crypto space. Some have outright called them a scam, but I believe they are more likely just a very weak project. Poorly run ICO, shady marketing tactics and overrun deadlines – and of course, no product to speak of. This partnership was supposed to be announced by the end of September – they have since removed all milestone deadlines because they are extremely behind schedule. I’ve been watching them very closely since it’s ICO and I can’t say I’m impressed with the team one bit. Their crypto MCO price has actually DROPPED after the announcement because it is actually a very poor and weak announcement, especially when compared to there being multiple, working, crypto cards already.
TenX is a competitor in the space and they have *already* launched, with actual cards in actual users hands, all over the world, months ago. They’ve just crossed 100,000 registered users and have done more than $20M USD in transactions. In fact, they are so successful that they are on-boarding new users in phases because they are processing too many transactions! TenX is also locally based (their office is at Clarke Quay I think), following crypto best practices (especially with regards to their ICO) and are in the process of getting banking licences to add additional products and services to their users. Monaco’s offering is much more limited and smaller in scale.
I have neither cards, but I have seen several videos of TenX cards being used to pay for things at POS terminals in shops and restaurants, as well as withdraw money from ATMs. I have never seen a Monaco card video yet. To my knowledge, not a single card has been shipped.
Monaco has literally done nothing right when there is an actual, live company which they could just copy all the answers from, yet they are unable to do so. The reason why I bring all these up is that these cards are pre-paid cards, meaning that you have to load them first with money (crypto) to use them. I would not trust them with my money.
Hi GMGH,
Thanks for chipping in!
Wirecard AG is the issuer for Monaco bard based on the major reports. Great tip on TenX. Now, let’s see if I can get hold of the card to test it out.
Np TI.
Wirecard is also TenX’s new issuer, and they are a big global one. I’m waiting for the TenX official announcement regarding that, plus their forecasted timeline for shipping out cards to Singapore (and the rest of the world). From what I heard, the earliest would be Jan 2018. People have been on the TenX card waitlist for months! Only Europeans (by a different card issuer) are getting cleared off the waitlist, 200 a day.
These cards sounds very handy for me when I go travelling, plus its a nice way to cash out some cryptos too without having to sell on the exchange and withdrawing it back to my bank account.
I’m surprised you have any cryptos to even load into your future card!
Wow. Seeing responses to your article such as the one above makes my blood boil. Monaco is a very promising company in the crypto space, yet it constantly receives FUD from TenX fanboys. There are a few points that are correct in the persons response. It is true that Monaco have encountered delays and is yet to launch (keep a close eye in the coming weeks though). However, it is a start-up and they are going about things the correct way taking the more professional route of a more polished and final product. Furthermore, they have kept the community up-to-date on the delays. Lets compare that to TenX:
– TenX rushed market and claimed a global Launch. They then had to revoke this when they realised that wavecrest their card issuer didn’t have the correct permissions to issue globally, but only within the EU. They therefore had to stop all accounts outside of this region.
– In a recent Q&A, TenX CEO Julian Hosp was asked if they have Visa Program Manager Status to run their own program. He replied that they ‘basically’ have it. They don’t. Visa Program Manager is required for large scale operations as it means they can handle any complaints etc directly. Furthermore, without the middle man, there are better competitive advantages with being a Visa Approved Program Manager like Monaco is.
– It is for the above reason that Monaco can offer better exchange rates, significantly higher cashback and a premium metal card. You should note that Monaco has an additional Platinum Visa BIN number – you can verify it: 460507
– Also note that Monaco is Free. The basic card is Free, the Metal platinum cards are free (You just have to buy tokens to lock-up over 6 months then they are returned to you). Furthermore, the fee’s mentioned in the comparison chart above are nonsense. Compare this to TenX who charge $15 for their plastic Card.
– Monaco is not only a card but an exchange (as you mentioned in your article). You’ll be able to switch between 7 currencies at perfect interbank exchange rates as well as cryptocurrencies. Note that this is where I recommend you change your stance on the platinum cards. The platinum cards have much higher ATM withdrawal limits and perfect exchange rate limits (although the fee is only 0.5% after the limit is reached). Furthemore, they have great cashback rates (1.5%, 1.75% and 2%). Finally, there will be additional benefits coming to the cards soon (keep an eye out for these – airport lounges are expected).
– Monaco, as of December has 100,000 cards ready to ship and 500,000 ordered. TenX are currently struggling to ship 200 cards a day with users waiting months.
– Compliance is at Monaco’s core. It is for this reason that I believe they will reach global rollout first.
As a product it is clear that currently Monaco will be far superior. However, I also encourage to look at MCO as an investment.
– Monaco Tokens will be required for platinum card lock-up. Reduced supply and increased demand = exponential growth. Remember there are only 9million Tokens in circulation (compared with the 100million PAY for TenX).
– MCO will get increased utility. This is yet to be announced but they are looking at things such as increased cashback or pay less when you spend with MCO.
Overall, I am very impressed so far with what will be a revolutionary product. Just my thoughts anyway…
Full disclosure, I am heavily invested in MCO and have been from ICO)