Just received 'Monolith'. A debit card that uses ethereum tokens.
I ordered the 'Monolith' card eager to see what the combination of erc20 tokens and a visa card would be like. After waiting about ten days the small package arrived at my post box.
The first impressions after opening the packaging paper are very positive. The company put some effort in the art department, placing the card in a box with illustrations depicting something out of the future, atlantis and maybe a touch of cartoonish Lovecraftian vibe. I liked it, of course.
Inside the box are two things. The card itself and a welcoming message in the same futuristic tone.
What i liked about the physical design of the card is that all the persona details are placed at the back of the card, giving the front a more minimalistic look. Of course, given the fact that the card is made useful through an app i would prefer if all the personal data were oomittedfrom the physical card.
As is in other crypto-cards the user has the ability to load up cryptocurrencies and convert them to Fiat.
Monolith had two distinctive features. Firstly the card account can only be toped-up with ethereum and etheruem tokens. No bitcoin and no transfers from another bank. I think they take google pay but have not verified it my self.
The other distinctive feature is the Monolith wallet. The app provides a seed for wallet making it 'non-custodial', meaning, according to the company, that even if Monolith went went out of business in the future the user can restore the eth-funds by using the seed.
I loaded up some Ethereum and some ethereum tokens and tested the monolith app functions. TOping up the card has a fee of 1%. Also, being an all-ethereum card, transactions require gas.
Converting crypto to fiat is easy, although converting fiat back to crypto not supported. When converting the app asks the user which asset to convert. Some assets can be stored on Monolith but currently can not be converted to fiat (for example BAT). Cross crypto conversions are also not available. I thought that the app functions were kind of limited in comparison to Wirex or other cards. Some help text could also be useful. I could not, for example, figure out why BAT to euro conversion was not possible. I reached out to to their discord to find out why.
Of course Monolith is very, very new. They have hardly had 1000 customers yet. I am guessing more development will go into the app and card in 2020. That being said the functions that are available now work well and bug free.
There is a long list of supported tokens. Some eth stable coins as well. The full list is here:
https://support.monolith.xyz/hc/en-us/articles/360002236637-What-tokens-are-available-on-the-wallet-
As to which currencies are supported for fiat onvertion a, smaller, list was available on the Monolith discord.
Monolith seems to be taking a step in the right direction. We are surely going to see more and more the convergence of classic assets with crypto in 2020. The hybrid nature of Monolith make it exciting. I look forward to more functions in 2020.
I am not affliated with Monolith. This is not finacial advice. Do your own research!
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Cool packaging, though i wonder if eth and crypto in general has a stable enough price to use as a debit card. I like the idea of making crypto easier to spend via a card. I also like that gold money card idea. Problem is the speculators swing the prices around so much that one day you can buy a suit with the card the next day you can only buy a coffee.
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There is always the option to use stable coins. Monolith supports usdt and usdc.