Mastercard Launches Prepaid Card for World’s First CBDC in Bahamas

The Central Bank of the Bahamas partnered with Mastercard and digital payment startup Island Pay to launch a card for its central bank digital currency. The Bahamas is moving to make its national digital currency more accessible by launching a prepaid card for the “sand dollar.”The Central Bank of The Bahamas has partnered with global payment giant Mastercard and local payment startup Island Pay to create a card that supports the sand dollar central bank digital currency.According to a Wednesday announcement, the card is running under a new program from Mastercard and Island Pay, allowing....

Coincard is a prepaid debit card you can load with bitcoins. Bitinvest is a Brazilian company that provides users a market to buy, sell, and store digital currencies. At the moment, Bitinvest only supports bitcoin and Litecoin, but the exchange plans to support other currencies in the future. Today, Bitinvest announced a new, simple way to use bitcoin practically anywhere in Brazil. It's called Coincard, and it's a prepaid MasterCard debit card that can be loaded with BTC. How it Works. Using a Coincard couldn't be simpler. After signing up for the card, Bitinvest will deliver it anywhere....

This makes The Bahamas one of the first countries in the world to officially launch a CBDC beyond a pilot program. The Central Bank of the Bahamas has announced the country’s “Sand Dollar” — a state-backed virtual currency — is now available nationwide.According to an Oct. 20 Facebook post from Project Sand Dollar, the central bank digital currency (CBDC) became available to all 393,000 residents of The Bahamas from roughly 10:00 PM UTC. This makes The Bahamas the first country in the world to officially roll out a CBDC. China is currently testing a pilot program for its digital yuan with....

Prepaid credit cards are not new. However, a prepaid credit card that can be funded with bitcoins is. The BitcoinCard is a credit card that can be funded via BTC. Don't get too excited though, as this card does not let you transmit bitcoin via the card. Despite the website's UK top level domain, the company informed us that the card primarily holds Euros. When we contacted The Bitcoin Company, who are offering this card, a representative told us: "The card works as a normal prepaid credit card. The difference is users can buy it with bitcoins, and fund it with bitcoins." It's not clearly....

Leading Brazil-based digital currency exchange BitInvest has launched the Coincard, a bitcoin-friendly prepaid MasterCard. The concept is simple. The card can be topped up with bitcoins, but you can use it pretty much like any other MasterCard. Similar concepts have been employed by Cryptex and BitPlastic. BitPlastic has been around for a while, though it has attracted plenty of criticism over its pricing scheme, among other issues. Cryptex, on the other hand, is new to the game: it announced its AML/KYC compliant Cryptex Card earlier this week, which can be used in 80 countries. Coincard....