By Can you buy coffee using Bitcoin?
This is probably the favorite question of all Bitcoin critiques. A major challenge for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is how to make them work in the real world. According to a Singapore based startup, TenX, Visa card is the answer. TenX has figured out how to spend cryptocurrencies immediately in real life.
How does it work?
TeX is clearly solving a problem. As of today nobody can spend cryptocurrencies at 99% of businesses without having to wait for days. TenX has an iOS and Android app that is used as a wallet and a decentralized fee free exchange. The app is connected to a debit/credit card to let users spend multiple cryptocurrencies anywhere VISA or Mastercard is accepted. The merchant gets paid in local currencies, while the users’ crypto account is debited.
The transactions are processed immediately and no additional charges are imposed on top of the conversion fee, which is typically 0.15 to 0.2%. The card supports eight cryptocurrencies, including Ethereum and DASH. It aims to offer 11 cryptocurrencies by the end of this year.
TenX’s payment platform is built on top of the Comit network. The network gets rid of most fees associated with international banking and transfers. It currently processes about $100,000 of transactions a month. By the end of 2018, it’s targeting $100 million in monthly transactions and a million users.
TenX fees
TenX has very straightforward and transparent fee structure. This is how much you’ll pay for various TenX services:
- Physical Card Issuing Fee (Covers Shipping and Tracking): $15
- Virtual Card Issuing Fee: $1.50
- Physical Card Annual Fee: Free (or $10 if you spend less than $1,000 a year)
- Virtual Card Annual Fee: Free (or $10 if you spend less than $1,000 a year)
- Foreign Exchange Fee: 0%
There are certain limits to the spendings. Standard accounts are limited to 200 EUR per ATM withdrawal and a daily spending limit of 2500 EUR per day. The accounts can be upgraded by providing more KYC information. Upgraded accounts can spend up to 10,000 EUR per transaction, 20,000 EUR per day, and 1,000 EUR per ATM withdrawal.
TenX PAY Tokens
The PAY tokens tokens hold the potential to make you rich some day. For every transaction, the token holder receives a reward in the form of ETH. 0.5% of the transaction goes to TenX token holders. Additionally, token holders receive 0.1% cash back rewards in the form of PAY.
Funding
In its ICO last month, TenX raised $80 million worth of Ethereum with about half to be used to expand operations while the rest will provide liquidity for a cryptocurrency exchange in the works. Before going ahead with the ICO TenX had previously raised $120,000 from angel investors and $1 million in a seed round led by venture capital firm Fenbushi Capital, which lists Ethereum’s co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, as a general partner.
TenX is one of the few companies which already has a working product and existing user base all over the world before the token sale. The company managed to receive 45,000 more of ether-equivalent funds than it had originally planned.
TenX will use these funds to develop their payment system even further. Including, The Web, Android, and iPhone; debit cards and other further payment services.