Australian crypto exchange, CoinSpot has launched its new cryptocurrency backed CoinSpot Mastercard, allowing customers to spend any of their holdings in CoinSpot’s 370+ listed cryptocurrencies at any participating Apple Pay and Google Pay retailers and websites.

With other crypto cards in the market currently winding back benefits and introducing new, prohibitive fees, the CoinSpot Mastercard has a simple 1% conversion fee and no ongoing, annual or activation fees.

Many cryptocurrency debit cards are also limited in the range of currencies available to the user. With the CoinSpot Mastercard, customers have the freedom to spend crypto like cash.

“The launch of the CoinSpot Mastercard effectively makes this the easiest and most secure way to spend your cryptocurrency in Australia and around the world,” CoinSpot chief product officer, Gary Howells said.

“This has been a long time coming, and we’re thrilled to be a leading force in expanding the utility of cryptocurrency in Australia.”

The digital-only card is powered by global payment solutions platform EML, who are proud to have developed a payment platform that will enable more people in Australia to use their cryptocurrency in a secure and convenient way.

“Australia has one of the world’s highest cryptocurrency adoption rates, with 23% of all Australians owning one or more digital assets,” EML Payments Australia CEO, Rachelle St. Ledger said.

“As cryptocurrencies move from the fringe to the early majority with industry shapers like CoinSpot, EML Payments is creating leading-edge solutions to allow crypto businesses and their users to utilise their assets in the real world with the speed, security and simplicity of traditional payment methods.”

How it works

The CoinSpot Mastercard is available for both Apple Pay and Google Pay via the customer’s smartphone wallet giving customers access via the CoinSpot mobile app on all Apple and Android phones. Customers need a fully verified CoinSpot account with Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) enabled.

Customers log into their verified CoinSpot account via the CoinSpot mobile app, activate their CoinSpot Mastercard, link it with either their Apple or Google wallets, and then select the cryptocurrency they wish to link to the CoinSpot Mastercard. Upon making a transaction with the CoinSpot Mastercard, the cryptocurrency linked to that card is instantly converted to AUD, which is then used to complete the transaction in real-time.

Cardholders can only assign one cryptocurrency to the card at a time. However, the connected cryptocurrency can be changed at any time using the CoinSpot app or website where five cryptocurrency preferences can be selected. Inside the CoinSpot app, there are security options from card freezing to preset spending limits – and the ability to turn the card ‘on’ or ‘off’ with just a tap.