The news of Neteller and Skrill pulling the Prepaid MasterCard product from over 100 countries sent customers reeling, and for good reason. The Net+ card has been a means of easy access to account funds but in a flash, that convenience was taken away by a rule change effective yesterday, November 25th. Interestingly, the spotlight has been shone on Bitcoin. Cubits, a platform to buy, sell and accept the virtual currency in the European market, is among the many companies rushing to seize an opportunity.
A piece of the notification sent to Cubits users:
Cubits accepts Neteller to Buy Bitcoin.
We are happy to announce the addition of Neteller to our range of payment options! You can now buy Bitcoin using your Neteller account. This means fast and secure transactions for instant BTC purchases.
Simply select Neteller as payment method, enter the desired amount of Bitcoin, and hit Confirm. You will be transferred to the Neteller interface where you can complete the payment. Your transaction is then securely processed in the minimal time.
You may be wondering what opportunity there is to seize. The way I see it, the real issue here is the loss of ‘instant’ cash withdrawals. Consumers, in certain countries, can no longer punch in a PIN and get cash so using Neteller/Skrill balances to purchase Bitcoin doesn’t put a Band-Aid on the situation. Bitcoin wallets haven’t started handing out ATM cards, have they? The truth is, withdrawing Bitcoins requires a transfer to a bank account too. On the other hand, it is a good indication of the growth of Bitcoin.
The good news? Your Neteller/Skrill accounts are still functional. Well, so what. Users are left waiting around for processing to go back and forth from a casino, for example, to the e-wallet but then what?
Neteller and Skrill, if left in the equation, will become a middle man in the transaction as the funds must then be sent to a bank account, which is an obstacle to getting cash in hand. We might as well forget these two altogether and start requesting direct payouts to our bank accounts or credit/debit cards. The concept of an instant cashout from a casino seems to have lost its luster now, hasn’t it?
If you’re in any of the following countries, your prepaid card is safe: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
This whole prepaid card thing has caused the industry to point in the direction of Bitcoin, but why? If you’ve got to transfer the money to a bank account, there is no instant gratification there either. Sure, the privacy factor makes it attractive and the fact that holidays don’t affect processing is great but it doesn’t really solve anything in relation to this issue, does it?
Let’s chat.