Image: Coinbase.com

Despite it’s continued overall growth and a thriving UK marketplace, the crypto-economy here in Britain is, nonetheless, still very much an underground thing. Surveys conducted by reputable bodied over the last couple of years have shown a huge lack of knowledge among the general public about both cryptocurrency and the wider blockchain industry, and these misconceptions have been fuelled further by a hostile media and a government that does not want to see change that threatens their grip on the traditional fiat economy.

Althought it is easy for someone in the UK to send and receive cryptocurrency completely legally, until now getting your money out of the system and using it for everyday purposes had been impractical and relatively costly, meaning that even the growing number of individuals who earn a significant amount of their income through cryptocurrency find themselves limited in how much they can use it for everyday transactions.

All of that could be about to be turned on its head if the much hyped launch of the Coinbase Card proves to be a success. Imagine popping to the shop, train station or restaurant and paying for your goods or services just the same way that you currently do with your existing bank card? It’s hard to see why this wouldn’t be extremely attractive to fans of cryptocurrency – and as more and more people see that crypto is a perfectly viable method of payment, it will perhaps help to bring about a paradigm shift in the way the public see crypto. As is often the way in this digital age, the intangibility of cryptocurrency may have been one of the factors hindering its wider uptake up until now. Introducing a physical card that allows payments anywhere that accepts cards may be exactly what is needed to challenge this important barrier.

If you haven’t already signed up for the Coinbase card, pop over to their blog for further information.