Diamond Circle to Offer Bitcoin Debit Card

ATM maker Diamond Circle has announced they will launch a bitcoin debit card, a collaborative effort with their UK distributor Swiftbiz.

Diamond Circle’s announcement came earlier this week, and the card will be officially released at the Bitcoin 2014 Conference in Amsterdam.

Diamond Circle has stated their debit card will only work with their cashless ATMs, a point-of-sale system developed by Diamond Circle themselves, and their online exchange according to CoinDesk.

This comes in stark contrast of other bitcoin debit cards, which are tied to established payment networks allowing the end consumer to utilize the card in locations not solely catering to bitcoin. The newly introduced cards will utilize NFC technology and be issued through the company’s website, ATM operators, and retail merchants. The Diamond Circle ATM card will be subject to any exchange rates according to market values at use, according to the company. The Australian based company is developing their own cryptocurrency ecosystem, with hardware bitcoin devices, card and wallet readers on the retailer side, and the aforementioned ATM machines being some of the many solutions and services introduced. The introduction of their ATM, which launched in March, has been something of a revelation for the transferring of BTC to consumer wallets. The ATM doesn’t rely upon cash backing, but allows consumers to directly purchase bitcoin with their credit cards and have it directly transferred to their wallet via direct deposit.

While their ATM card may lack in the freedom and flexibility of other ATM card offerings centering around digital currency, Diamond Circle is aiming to provide the means and solutions to greatly benefit the end user of their products.

It seems extremely risky to produce an ATM card which boasts none of the advantages of more mainstream payment options, but Diamond Circle could very well be a major player in the physical marketplace if they are able to properly utilize the services offered to vendor and customer alike.