TokenCard, the first debit card powered by Ethereum smart contracts, has announced it will launch its crowdsale May 2.
The parent company Monolith Ventures, which seeks to “bring the VISA payments network to Ethereum,” will partner with the Seattle-based Blockchain startup New Alchemy to bring the project forward.
“TokenCard makes every token better, letting users spend supported tokens with just a swipe at VISA merchants worldwide,” Peter Vessenes, founder of New Alchemy said in a press release sent to Cointelegraph.
“It has unique benefits for the remittance market and the TKN token being issued is designed to let all TKN holders benefit from broad market exposure to the token economy. This is a great, great offering and we're excited to be part of it."
The central concept behind TokenCard is to allow smart contracts to give consumers more control over their deposited funds.
Payments with the Visa Debit card is accompanied by a dedicated app for managing transactions. These are powered by TokenCard’s TKN token, with one percent of tokens used to power each card swipe sent to the contract.
Users will not pay fees when using the card at the point of sale.
“Users choose a Contract Wallet rather than having to deposit funds outside of their control. TokenCard VISA debit cards draw funds from this contract wallet that support Ether and almost any ERC20 token,” TokenCard creator Mel Gelderman continued.
“Users can use the Token App to operate their Contract Wallet and manage their TokenCard, giving them a top-tier mobile banking experience that adds unique features into the mix like multi-asset spending.”
Cryptocurrency debit cards continue to see expansion into new formats, with Charlie Shrem last month seeking a partnership with Dash DAO to produce a Dash-branded variety.