Coinbase introduced Shift Card – the first US-issued bitcoin debit card, built with the Coinbase API – in November last year.



Coinbase has provided few statistics on Shift Card usage in a recent blog post:

Since its launch, more than 10,000 people have have signed up for the card and spent over $1 million worth of bitcoin.

The most common types of purchases that have been made with the card (between December 1st and January 15th) include grocery stores (26%), restaurants (24%), ATMs (16%), retail stores (14%), service stations (7%) and utilities (7%). Moreover, it has also been used for hotel/resorts (4%) and sporting goods (3%).

The most commonly used merchants (between December 1st and January 15th) include Amazon, McDonalds, Walmart, 7-Eleven, Safeway and others.

At the time of its launch, the card allowed Coinbase users in 24 states in the U.S. to spend bitcoin online and offline at more than 38 million merchants worldwide. At present, people in 32 states in the U.S can now use the card to spend bitcoin anywhere VISA is accepted.

A breakdown of Shift transactions by state of user (between December 1st and January 15th) shows California taking the top slot at 31%, Texas at 14%, and Washington at 12%.

Coinbase said that in the coming months, it will expand the card’s coverage to more states. Also, Shift is working on new features to make the card more useful.



“The waiting list is long and growing by the day, so we’re anxious to broaden geographic eligibility”, Coinbase said.