Last week, we began shipping the Xapo Debit Card. We view the debit card as an important feature to offer our users and a fundamental step toward broader adoption of bitcoin. On Friday, we posted a debit card Fees & Limits Schedule to our website, which caused confusion among some of our user base, and we’d like to take a moment to give some additional context and updates to our debit card program.

The Fees & Limits Schedule we posted is from the existing third party program under which we are currently able to have the cards issued. Under that fee schedule, there is no activation fee, but there is a monthly service fee and other fees, including card replacement and foreign currency conversion.

When we announced the Xapo Debit Card a few months ago, we noted that there would be a one-time fee of US$15 in connection with ordering the card. That is still the case. Users who order the debit card will be charged US$15. This amount will be debited from your Xapo Wallet in bitcoins.

We do not, however, intend to charge monthly fees or fees for everyday spending. If our users are charged a monthly service fee, Xapo will reimburse that amount in bitcoins. So, if you use the Xapo Debit Card and are charged a monthly service fee by our third party provider, we will directly reimburse your Xapo Wallet.

You will also see that the Fees & Limits Schedule includes fees for using an ATM (including by the operator of the ATM machines). When we announced the card, we indicated that the card would not work at ATMs, so we didn’t address ATM fees. We have worked hard to make this functionality available for the Xapo Debit Card, but there are charges associated with ATM usage, similar to ATM fees currently associated with your bank-issued debit card.

There are also fees for special uses of the card — for example, replacing a card that was lost or for foreign currency conversion. Those customary fees would be charged to you as the user.

We have no intention to mislead users into joining the program. But we realize that we did create confusion – and for that we are sorry. If you’d like to cancel your Xapo Debit Card for any reason, simply follow these steps:

If you haven’t ordered a card, do nothing. The program is only for those who order a card. If you have “pre-ordered” the debit card, it does not mean that you are participating in the program. To participate you must respond to the Xapo email we send inviting you to order a card and to submit your personal and shipping information. You can simply disregard that email. If you received the email inviting you to order a card, you completed that process, and you want to cancel the card, email us at support@xapo.com.

If you want to order a Xapo Debit Card, you can do so from your Xapo Wallet by clicking on the “Pre-Order Now” button. More details are here.

One other important point: We have been advised that we cannot ship cards to the United States or India at this time. We were initially advised that these were approved markets. But after some initial invite emails were sent, we were notified that those markets had been reassessed, and that we cannot ship to them at this time. We will begin shipping to those two countries as soon as possible, and we will keep you notified of future developments. From time to time, there may be other countries to which, for regulatory reasons, we are unable to ship cards and we will keep you informed of the latest in our FAQ as this evolves.

We’re working diligently to bring Xapo Debit to as many markets as possible. As with any new product in any new market, there are unexpected bumps along the road. We truly appreciate your understanding as we sort through these details as quickly as possible. Your feedback, positive and negative, makes us better, and we appreciate it.