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Comment by Mo3 | Hacker News Reader

I have one of those (Binance) and there is literally 0 benefit to them, and OP comments' statement still holds true. The settlement is still in fiat currency, when you use the card it exchanges your crypto for fiat for settlement. It's not real cryptocurrency payment, neither will it probably ever be.

I have been on the inside for a while, and completely agree that there is zero fundamental value to anything, it is purely, 100% speculation and most of it (especially DeFi) is borderline illegal and useless.

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You seeing zero benefit doesn't mean nobody can benefit from having it.

> The settlement is still in fiat currency

Who cares how it's done on the bookkeeping side? I care about my account being lowered by the amount of crypto something has cost me and getting the service / goods I want.

Again, you seeing zero value is your perspective. Many people see zero value in abstract art.

> Who cares how it's done on the bookkeeping side? I care about my account being lowered by the amount of crypto something has cost me and getting the service / goods I want.

Anybody who understands what cryptocurrency is supposed to be should definitely care about it. There is nothing crypto about these cards, they just liquidate some of your crypto collateral to settle in fiat. You could do this yourself, or use any other random credit card. It's a convenience, but is literally the anti-thesis of cryptocurrency, and/or has nothing to do with cryptocurrency in the first place. The cards are ran by a financial institute or bank and the collateral could be anything.

Sure, the card and its convenience and functionality has value. Cryptocurrency plays zero part in it. Funnily enough, what you see as value here is provided by the fiat system and not by cryptocurrency.

I know the tech very well, but I really don't care about how it's settled under the hood.

> Cryptocurrency plays zero part in it.

Except backing your payment, it really doesn't.

> It's a convenience

And convenience is value. Not inherently by crypto, but the fact it's possible is an extra benefit.

Would you also object that if I spend EUR for a product online in GBP then the seller is not getting EUR?

> Except backing your payment, it really doesn't.

I think this is the point I was trying to make as well. Obviously this service has value, but not because of cryptocurrency, which was the matter of discussion

So where does the value come from? The service has an additional value to convert my crypto to fiat quickly, but as transaction fees goes it's marginal.

The service has the fundamental value, not cryptocurrency. That's just collateral

The service definitely is an enabler, but to which degree it's up the crypto asset.

I had to buy a flight urgently. But my credit/debit cards had to low of a balance. Topping ul via bank transfer would have taken 4 days over the weekend. Used a crypto backed card, transferrred tokens, and 30min later booked my flight.

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