The first US bitcoin Debit Card has arrived. Shift Payments issued Shift Card, which allows to pay in bitcoin via Coinbase at any place where Visa plastic cards are accepted, both online and offline.

Everyone who has an account with Coinbase can now order the Shift Card online by paying $10 fee in bitcoin. Cards will be delivered to the user's physical address. Shift Payments uses Connect Coinbase integration service, using which a Coinbase user can grant full or partial access to their account to 3rd party applications, with no need to share the account’s API key or login credentials.

With the Shift Card domestic transactions converting bitcoins to dollars are free of charge, while international transactions will be charged 3% fees. ATM withdrawals include a fee of $2.50 and $3.50 for domestic and international withdrawals respectively.

This is not the first time a bitcoin card is issued. The bitcoin startup Xapo provides bank cards nominated in bitcoin, as well as bitcoin exchange. In March 2015 Xapo partnered with Bitwage to launch new payroll cards which would allow people to receive salary in bitcoins and spend it in dollars, pounds sterling and euro. Bit-X introduced MasterCard denominated in bitcoin in May 2015. Bitfinex recently issued bitcoin debit cards which enable users to convert bitcoins in cash at any ATM.

Sonya Belova