Mobi BTC Wallet - with Currencies and Visa Pre-Paid Card as standard !

[TheGooner]

Could this be the "killer" app that BTC needs to get wider acceptance ?

From their press release today :

Mobi is the only mobile app that allows instant conversion, storage, and transfer of more than 100 currencies, including the United States dollar, the British pound, the euro, gold, silver, and bitcoin.Mobi accounts are linked to users’ mobile numbers; all that is needed to use Mobi is a smartphone.

Mobi users can instantly transfer funds to any of the 2 billion other global smartphone users using Mobi’s private blockchain. Mobi also supports bitcoin transfers on the bitcoin public blockchain.

Source : https://www.btcc.com/news/en/announc.../mobi-release/

It's backed by BTCC which is one of the top five BTC exchanges in the world by volume - so it's a serious entrant in this space.

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Of course there are a lot of questions about hot / cold storage of BTC, security of anything stored this way, and whether this entity can be trusted with 10K, or 100K of funds. They have an FAQ but it's very high level answers.

But on the surface it's a very slick app, it's well presented, it has access to a stored value VISA card (with fees and charges of course) and this BTC wallet COULD become the next online wallet with intergrated BTC support.

This could be a way of bringing BTC to the mainstream - and if security is good and fees do not become outrageous (like Skrill and Neteller) then this could become the online wallet of choice for consumers.

I am very tempted to transfer in a fraction of a BTC, go through the hoops to get a card and test it's usability and costs in a real world situation.

Mobi app main website : https://www.mobi.me/

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Opinions from other affiliates that have BTC dealings please ?

[Sherlock]

Tbh it is not a killer. It may be more conveient than current solutions, but it is not something new.

I am testing Bitwala and Advcash (mainly because they both offr EUR as currency, the second has USD and RUB as well). But there are dozens of bitcoin debit cards around with fees like mobi.me (although the mobi.me offer is good for people dealing in USD: 2USD per month, decent limits, 2.5 for payout and transfers from btc to fiat at the time of sale [most debit cards are preuploaded, so bitcoins are transferred by the time of upload]).

Honestly the banks still work, so I do not need those transactions. But it is good for anyone who wants for example to avoid taxes, so he can pay for grocery store or whores with those money.

[TheGooner]

It's not about taxes - it's about receiving BTC and actually using it.

Whether that's for daily purchases, paying contractors, or just streamlining receiving and transferring to local bank accounts.

- Currently BTC has no useful purchase facility in my country so a card using BTC balance is a good option.
- Existing wallets are becoming very greedy with their fees (some of my contractors are paying 6-8% to convert to their local card / banks)
- Receiving BTC affiliate payments currently involve an exchange, an intermediate bank, and then my own bank.

If BTC is going to work then it needs to be relevant to more people than HODLers.

[Sherlock]

Yes it is a good option for normal people to get fiat from BTC, even for higher price than exchanges, which charge like 0.2% instead of 3% at the debit cards.

But those cards are around for few years, they exist even for other cryptocurrencies. The most important for bitcoin are crazy governments that do not want people to spend for certain goods.

[TheGooner]

Appreciate the feedback.
I'd like to get more opinions and feedback on the whole scene.

Specifically : How about the reputation of BTCC - and the Chinese jurisidction ?

I know Hong Kong of course - I worked there for a while - and the reputation of HK banks is good.

But these days the Chinese Government is knee-deep in trying to regulate / restrict / control BTC movements as they see significant currency flight from Chinese nationals .. and this may flow through to BTC companies working in China (even with the two systems mandate in Hong Kong).

Can we trust BTCC, mobi, and the Chinese Government at this stage ?
Or is legislative change still a big risk - and is this best for "pocket money" only ?

[Sherlock]

BTCC is currently in **** ofc
https://cointelegraph.com/news/leadi...esume-march-15

[Voids]

The value of BTC is still very volatile and under wider acceptance become available it will struggle to stablise. It seems to lack the purchasing power of current currencies and until it does so, it will be hard to reach parity and assign it a true value.

Where there is no other choice Bitcoin is a good method of payment, but I'd be less than happy to be paid in it. 1 month I can earn £1,000 the next £2,000 all due to fluctuations.

The fee's of centralised banking are partly offset by their reliability and reputation (although this has taken some damage in the last decade) but there are regulations that mean it's unlikely that Lloyds will just simply disappear with your money.

Until there are regulations I can't image I would store any significant amount of bitcoins in a 3rd party wallet, but currently I have no bitcoins so it's hard to say. Maybe once bettingbitcoin.co.uk is finally setup I'll have slightly more knowledge of the scene, but this is the view of an ignorant outsider.

[Sherlock]

There will be no regulation of bitcoin. At least not the one you wish for. There will be just attepts to restrict cryptocurrecies and only the cryptocurrecies that will be the most successful to avoid those restrictions will survive.

Recent refusal of bitcoin ETF showed clearly why: cryptocurrency world is a different world, something aside of law. It is for example impossible to define what is bitcoin, because it is such a morphing symbol. What is today "bitcoin", tomorrow might be nothing. But something that does not exist today, will be used and called tomorrow as "bitcoin". There is indeed a continuality from the old bitcoin to the new bitcoin, nobody loses bitcoins (unless he loses them in replay attacks after forks ) But law as we know and therefore regulation is completely impotent here.

The law is code. That is the motto. And the lawmakers are the miners (for now, even that can change quickly and bitcoin lawmakers can be bitcoin holders in future; this is so called proof of work to proof of stake transition).