Its just a simple way to spend your bitcoins with merchants that do not accept bitcoins
Not only that, but there's a $10 issuance fee associated with this, and based on the announcement, there will be usage charges as well in the future. So it's Visa + fees. As opposed to the Visa I pull out of my wallet now and use without paying any fees.
Well, except for the 2% merchant fee of course (that's passed along to all of us in the price)
Which you won't get a discount on if you buy with BTC.
Meanwhile, I get 1-3% cashback...
merchant fees are significantly lower given that we're talking of a debit card not a credit card
You could send your cousin in Somalia $200 in BTC and he could withdraw it in local currency at the ATM down the street from his house. Versus paying Western Union 8% for the same thing.
(Probably not with this card specifically, but if there was a Somalian equivalent...)
Well, I can't think of a better way to buy groceries with bitcoin.