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The new Bitsa Dash debit card allows full access to financial services for the unbanked, including topping up from Dash and prepaid vouchers through Bitnovo.

Released earlier this spring, the Bitsa debit card provides access to financial services for customers without having to have a bank account. According to a new update on a couple of new features for loading balances, users can use the card for payments, withdraw cash from ATMs, make bank transfers, and more:

“Bitsa is the new way to buy with a prepaid card. The prepaid BITSA card allows you to buy online or in any store, without being linked to any bank account. With bitsa you can: -Make any online purchase with the Verified by Visa (Secure Payment) technology;

–Pay in shops from around the world;

–Withdraw cash from any ATM and through a cashout pin in thousands of stores;

-Carry out SEPA transfers ;

-Make transfer between cards;

-Recharge with vouchers and cryptocurrencies.”

Most notably, Bitsa allows Bitnovo customers to seamlessly load cards through the platform via cryptocurrency deposit or by buying physical vouchers with cash at various locations. This enables an individual living entirely off of cash or cryptocurrency (or a mix of both) to have the same access to financial services as the banked.

A full service for the unbanked, including SMS-based remittances via Dash Text

By leveraging Bitsa and Bitnovo, a user is able to access a full spectrum of financial services, including cheap cross-border remittances, without a bank account. Last December, Bitnovo announced support for Dash Text, an SMS-based Dash wallet currently serving customers in Venezuela and Colombia. This allowed a customer to buy Dash at a physical location without a bank account and have it instantly sent to a friend or family member in Latin America, whether or not the final recipient owned a smartphone, who is then able to spend it at thousands of businesses in the region. A customer who lives in a cash-only environment is able to buy Dash which is instantly sent as a remittance as well as load up a Bitsa card for access to other financial services. Similarly, a customer living exclusively off of Dash is already able to instantly send cross-border remittances including to Dash Text wallets, and can now load a debit card and access other bank-like service without a bank account.

Intermediary services improve value proposition before mass adoption

The addition of services such as Bitsa strengthen the usefulness of holding Dash. Earlier this month, the Spend card added Apple Pay support, allowing Dash users to use NFC payments to convert Dash at the point of sale for purchases where Dash is not explicitly supported. Additionally, the Vega Wallet is partnering with Covault ATMs to bring broader access to Dash, particularly at cannabis dispensaries.