QuadrigaCX fails, the troubled Canadian cryptocurrency exchange, has failed to locate millions in customers’ missing cryptocurrency assets since the company’s owner died suddenly in December of 2018. On Monday, Nova Scotia Supreme Court Judge Michael Wood ruled that Quadriga Fintech Solutions Corp, the holding company, can begin bankruptcy proceedings.
Approximately 115,000 customers are owed $195 million USD in cash and cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, following the death of Quadriga’s founder Gerald Cotten. The exchange says Cotton did not reveal to anyone in his organization the private keys that access the cryptocurrencies on his private wallet. To those who did not know the details of the founders death, he died in India following complications from Crohn’s disease.
Quadriga’s court-appointed auditor Ernst & Young issued an April 1 report, asserting that creditors may benefit from the bankruptcy proceedings with the potential sale of the company’s assets, including but not limited to Quadriga’s operating platform.
In March, Michael Wood granted the Canadian crypto exchange a 45-day extension to find more than $100 million in lost Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin SV and Bitcoin Gold.
The court also approved a freeze on accounts held by Cotten’s widow, Jennifer Robertson, and the Cotten estate, including Robertson’s trusts and businesses.
Robertson says that her husband’s death was “sudden and unexpected”, refuting conspiracy theories that Cotten is still alive and that his death was a ruse to escape financial troubles.
QuadrigaCX was believed to be Canada’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, but following the death of Cotten, Ernst & Young says the company’s cold storage wallets are empty.
The next hearing is scheduled for April 18 to address issues involving credit protection and third-party payments processors.
This just goes to show that leaving your private keys on an exchange is very risky business. Do yourself a favor and store them on a trusted hardware wallet that is under YOUR control. Click here to see the latest offers directly from Ledger for an entry level hardware wallet.
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How To Buy Gift Cards With Bitcoin (2020)
In this review, I will be going over the 3 best ways on how to buy gift cards with bitcoin in 2019. There are 3 trusted sites (and one app) that are used to buy gift cards very easily and it happens almost instantly. You can choose whether or not to email you the redemption code for the gift cards digitally via email, or you can choose to have them shipped as a physical card to your friends or family if you are going to use it as a gift.
It all is very easy, and more importantly, it proves that there is real world utility for bitcoin (in case you didn’t know that already). Let’s get right to the best ways to go about this below!
Before I get to these 3 options, I will recommend you first check out the LIFE INFO APP. This does the reverse and allows you to earn free bitcoin AND save money on thousands of merchants, just like the resources below. I HIGHLY recommend using this free app, because it’s a great way to start accumulating bitcoin for free while saving money on purchasing items you are already buying anyway. I will leave a link to the review that explains this free app HERE.
DOWNLOAD THE LIFE INFO APP TO START EARNING BITCOIN
How To Buy Gift Cards With Bitcoin
#1 GYFT.COM
This website offers a fully functioning website and a full service mobile app as well, but you can get pretty much any type of gift card you can think of. It’s essentially the Amazon of of buying gift cards and the selection is huge. It covers anything from pizza gift cards to department stores, like Macy’s to Best Buy to Cruises and Airlines.
This really is one of the largest sites that allows you to buy gift cards and isn’t fully dedicated to bitcoin. (we’ll get to that option below). You can actually buy these gift cards with any payment method, but bitcoin is an advertised method for doing so. I have used it once on this site and it’s fairly straight forward with scanning the QR code with my phone and authorizing with my BitPay wallet.
This probably has the largest selection of gift cards, but one thing I wish they did was incentivize the use of bitcoin by offering a discount for purchasing these gift cards, but for them it just appears to be another payment method.
If you want to save money and get discounted gift cards with bitcoin or bitcoin cash, I would recommend trying out Purse.io, which is Amazon built on top of a new platform that specifically deals in bitcoin payment. You can check out my review and recap in this article I wrote HERE.
#2 BITREFILL.COM
This is a site that I love using because it was built specifically to help propel bitcoin being used in commerce specifically. Not only that, you can buy gift cards with Bitcoin, but you can also use several other altcoins as well. You can also top up gift cards on your phone in any denomination you need and it offers over 750 different gift cards, so it has a VERY large selection, just like above.
You can also use Lightning Payments for ordering bitcoin as well. This is a new development, but one that is very welcome. I just downloaded my first wallet for the lightning network and it was really fun to see it in action! Granted, I haven’t tested it out on a purchase here, yet.
However, I plan to do that very soon on my next gift card purchase. I always try to support businesses that support bitcoin payments, but especially ones that were built on the promise of bitcoin being a peer-to-peer electronic cash system that was developed by the elusive Satoshi Nakamoto.
Overall, this is probably my favorite place to buy gift cards when I pay with bitcoin or any other altcoin, because of it’s dedication to this cause. I also had a smooth experience and had the physical cards shipped to me within 3 days and arrived on time and as described.
The one thing that also makes this different, is you can pay your phone bill and cable bill with bitcoin. How? Well, you can purchase a specific gift cards amount, say $94.36 if that’s your phone bill amount, and use that to pay your monthly Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T, or Sprint Bill. Pretty neat.
Also, you can do this with your cable bill if you use Cox or Xfinity if you’re in the U.S. The same thing applies where you can purchase a gift card for an exact amount and use it when you go online to pay your bill. Pretty cool if you ask me!
#3 BITPAY WALLET APP
This is my number one go to mobile wallet because of it’s utility. I also have a visa card that I can load up my bitcoin on directly, so it’s all managed and very easy to use in the app. But, it also offers integrations with Coinbase and you can buy gift cards directly from your wallet there.
The only downside is, it supports only Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). If you are using any other cryptocurrencies with your day to day spending, then I would go with something else, but I use this one every single day, because the user experience is top notch.
In terms of gift cards, here is an article the wrote when it was rolled out last December HERE. Ultimately, it doesn’t quite have the features or selection that the other two offer, but when you use this mobile wallet for the debit visa card and for other everyday spending, it makes it easier to manage it all in one place..
It covers some larger name retailers like: Uber, Delta Airlines, Hotels.com and Amazon. There are other options, and they are adding more all the time, so keep an eye on that. Overall, I personally use this option the most as I mentioned above I have a lot of services integrated with this wallet and I’ve never had a bad experience.
CONCLUSION
These are the easiest steps on how to buy gift cards with bitcoin! Overall, I have a clear favorite in the list above in terms of specifically buying gift cards and that is Bitrefill.com, but that does not mean the other options are bad. I have personally used all 3 of these and they all have a good user experience.
The difference lies in their business models and the personal branding and position in the marketplace. They are all reputable and I can recommend all of them, but I still have a soft spot for “Bitcoin Companies” in general, and that’s just an emotional leaning on my part.
If you ever need to see some previews of get some other commentary, watch the video I did above that goes over this and shows you how to go about this process. Give these a try when you have a holiday, birthday, or any other type of event when a gift card would be appropriate. you won’t regret it.
What do you think? Are there better ways to buy gift cards online? Let me know below in the comments!
Cheers,
The Crypto Renegade
NOTE: This post may contain affiliate links. This adds no cost to you but it helps me focus on giving as much value as possible in every single post by being compensated for recommending products that help people succeed.
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Bitpay Card Review: My Experience Living Off The Debit Card (2020)
In this review, I am going to cover my experience living off of the Bitpay Card. In 2017, I was hired to build a cryptococurrency hardware wallet for a prominent crypto company and I was paid directly in bitcoin and bitcoin cash. I needed to find a way to pay my bills with crypto in this legacy financial system that would not allow me to pay directly for my rent, groceries, gasoline, etc… This is when I did thorough research and discovered there were several crypto debit cards that existed.
Which one should I use? Which one works best and has the lowest fees? How much does it cost to get one? How easy is it to use? These were all questions I had when I first started researching these options and after doing a few weeks of research, it was clear that the best solution was to use the BitPay card.
I was already using BitPay to accept payment through this website when it was used for ecommerce, but I was unaware at the time that they had a crypto to Visa cash option that works for personal use. I was already happy with the experience I had using them as a payment processor, so I figured I would try their debit card for every day use. My experience and FAQ’s are detailed below!
HOW DOES THE BITPAY CARD WORK?
So here are the basic process of using the card from start to finish:
- Go to Bitpay.com/card and request a card. It will cost $9.95 as a one-time fee after you’ve filled out the application, which requires your personal details to send the card to.
- Wait 5-7 business days for the card to arrive (if you’re in the U.S.) It can take up to 21 business days for other countries.
- Once the card is received, call the 1-800 number on the front sticker to activate and set a PIN. Then go to your account to enter in the secret code sent in the letter to activate.
- Once activated, you are able to see your card available for crypto loads from the Bitpay mobile app and start using.
- Choose the wallet (either bitcoin or bitcoin cash) that you want to load onto the card, the choose the USD amount you want to add, then authenticate with your password and Face ID (if one is setup for extra security on the Bitpay wallet app)
- You’re done, money is loaded instantly and you will receive a confirmation email once you have completed the “Slide to Pay” function on the final screen.
- You are free to use this Bitpay card online, in person at any merchant that accepts Visa, or at the ATM.
My experience has been one that has shown this to be not only a very simple process, but also one that you can load money on in a pinch if you need to top off or load up your card because you don’t have enough funds. I have also experienced an issue where the card was declined once, but it was the merchant who I was using who said his bank was declining it. Once I called Bitpay’s card services, I was able to have them unblock it on their end and it went through perfectly.
WHAT CRYPTOCURRENCIES CAN I USE WITH THIS BITPAY DEBIT CARD?
Currently, the only two cryptocurrencies that can be used to load up the card on the prepaid Visa is Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). There have been plans to add more in the future, but for the time being, these are the only coins that are supported on Bitpay’s platform for debit card usage. There have been rumors that Ethereum (ETH) may be the next coin added for further altcoin support, but that has not been confirmed by the company.
HOW DO I PUT MONEY ON MY BITPAY CARD?
Once you have the card activated and you have linked your card account online, you will see the card option to “Add Funds” on the Bitpay Wallet App. Once you click on this, you can select the USD amount or toggle to the BTC or BCH side to calculate the exact amount you want to load. This will have you select the wallet you want to fund with in the drop down menu. Once you select the wallet, you will confirm the total and continue with “Slide To Pay” at the bottom, and will load instantly!
(PRO-TIP: If you are concerned about price fluctuation, you can keep your funds on your wallets and only top off the card at the exact moment before you purchase. This gives you flexibility in trying to monitor and maximize the price volatility in your favor!)
CAN I USE THE BITPAY CARD TO WITHDRAW CASH FROM AN ATM?
Yes. I have used this in a pinch where a card is not accepted when I went to a concert venue, however, keep in mind you will incur a $5 fee for ATM withdrawals and that does not include any ATM fee’s the machine you are using will incur. In some cases, it is not worth it to use this feature, but it is nice to know you have the option if it’s required.
It is also nice to know that when using a debit option at a merchant, you can easily choose the “cash back” option as a free way to get cash back, but that is usually limited to $100 dollars. This is a work around I would frequently use if I knew I needed to have some cash on hand for certain occasions and is nice to avoid those fees.
CONCLUSION
I was able to successfully use this to make most purchases I needed to make for the past 2 years. There are some bills that people pay that required ACH and will not take a debit or credit card. IN these instances, I was able to use Coinbase to as a crypto to fiat off-ramp, but I avoided using this as much as possible as the fees were not helpful, and I liked the idea that I could use crypto top make payments in the real world, without a hitch.
I also negotiated a way to start paying rent and other bills via Venmo, which was a nice workaround top using ACH. I was so hell-bent on using crypto as a viable payment source to pay my living expenses, that I went out of my way to make this happen. Any funds that I did not load onto my card, I only kept a little of it on the Bitpay wallet app and then kept the savings (as everyone should) onto my KeepKey hardware wallet.
If you are unfamiliar of the best practices for securing your cryptocurrency the right way, I will leave my link here for my FREE E-BOOK that details the top 5 ways to secure your cryptocurrency, and I recommend giving it a look, as it’s free.
All in all, this was a viable solution to live on, but I understand that some people are unable to use this in their particular country or their particular circumstance. If you live in any European or Asian countries and would like the option to use a crypto debit card, you can also try Wirex.
The Bitpay card is an option that does have a monthly fee, but it primarily used on that side of the world and has a similar user experience. I would recommend using this card for ANYONE that wants an option to “cash out their crypto” in a moments notice that would prefer not paying any exchange fees and needs it to happen within seconds.
What do you think? Are there any better crypto debit card options that you have used? If so, let me know in the comments below!
Cheers,
The Crypto Renegade
NOTE: This post may contain affiliate links. This adds no cost to you but it helps me focus on giving as much value as possible in every single post by being compensated for recommending products that help people succeed.
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Ledger Nano S Review: 7 Things You Need To Know Before You Buy (2020)
In this article, I will go into depth of the Ledger Nano S Review: 7 things you need to know before you buy it. The Ledger Nano S was the first (but definitely not the last) hardware wallet I ever bought, and the experience actually led me to create this website as I started learning more and more about crypto security.
It was the second hardware wallet that came on the scene after the Trezor One device and implemented a new security structure and a new form factor to try and compete directly with the only trusted hardware wallet at the time.
When the Ledger Nano S started picking up momentum, it was because they started adding altcoin support at a rapid pace. This was exponential as Trezor only supported native apps for Bitcoin, Litecoin and Dogecoin by the time that Ledger had over 20 native apps for alt coin support with hundreds of new coins that were already in development.
This was a HUGE deal at the time, and only picked up steam as the 2017 bull run started and people began accumulating a wide array of altcoins for speculative investment. Today, the other competitors have caught up pretty well for the same level of support, but the Ledger Nano S still has an edge for certain coins that are supported, and that is a HUGE reason that I use this device on a semi-weekly basis to this day. There has been lots of progress and development on the device itself, the massive altcoin support, and the introduction of Ledger Live. Lets check it out below!
WHAT IS A HARDWARE WALLET AND WHY DO I NEED ONE?
For those who are new to the cryptocurrency landscape, you may have heard that you need a hardware wallet. But, why? Well, when you receive your first bitcoin, whether it be in a mobile, desktop, or web wallet, you have the public key (your bitcoin address) and the private key (the secret key required to control (send/receive) your bitcoin. your PRIVATE KEY is the MOST important piece of this process, because without the private key, you do not own or have control of the coins in your wallet.
When you have your private keys connected to a “Hot Wallet” or a wallet that is directly connected to the internet, you run the risk of them being hacked or compromised. This is where hardware wallets come in. These are known as “Cold Wallets” or “Cold Storage” and has your private keys stored securely offline, so they are impervious to attack or compromise.
When becoming your own bank, this is a vital part of properly managing and securing your cryptocurrency. Hot wallets are good for everyday spending and ease of use (much like a fiat wallet you keep in your back pocket), but it is NOT ideal for longer term storage.
The Ledger Nano S is a very compact, sleek, and secure device that allows you to store over 1,100 cryptocurrencies at the time of this writing. This is crucial as more altcoins gain acceptance and you need a wide portfolio to protect longer term. Ledger takes their security very seriously and for good reason. There have been a number of exchange hacks and reports of people losing or having their wallets hacked by nefarious individuals throughout history. This is why having this device is so crucial.
Ledger Nano S is a device that is upgraded frequently with new features and firmware upgrades to ensure that it has the latest security protections and new assets being added every single month. Not to mention, it is currently the cheapest among the 3 best-known hardware wallet companies, starting at only $59 USD!
LEDGER NANO S REVIEW: HOW IS THE SECURITY?
The Ledger Nano S has an A-grade security setup which sets it apart from the competition. It uses a secure element which holds and stores the private keys in a separate and secure environment from the rest of the operating system. This ensures that if for any reason the rest of the device is somehow compromised, you precious private keys are safe.
It also supports the standards BIP-39 protocol that requires you to setup a recovery seed phrase of 24 words during the initial setup, that allows you to restore your coins to any other wallet in the event you have broken, lost, or somehow cannot gain access to the device itself, so you have a fail safe.
(PRO-TIP: If you lose, rip, tear, get wet, or otherwise destroy your recovery seed, you are in serious trouble. I would recommend obtaining a CryptoSteel device as a metal backup for your recovery phrase that protects you against a fire, flood, earthquake, or your brand new puppy. This is STRONGLY recommended if there is ANY amount of cryptocurrency you would be financially damaged by losing. This is a literal metal vault for your backup system)
Additionally, they have a proprietary operating system known as BOLOS (Blockchain Open Ledger Operating System) that allows developers certain access to develop applications and a framework for them to add support for a wide spectrum of coins and stacks for scaling up. It is built with security in mind and to work comprehensively with the secure element by ensuring there is a smooth delivery of sensitive data when making a transaction using the Ledger Nano S.
In my opinion, this is one of the most secure devices out there, as it has built in several security checks for every action taken on the device, and if those checks have not been successfully executed, it will not move on to the next phase, making it even more secure. To me, this extra attention of securing my private keys provides me peace of mind even with an entry level device.
WHAT MAKES THE LEDGER NANO S DIFFERENT THAN TREZOR OR KEEPKEY?
I get this question a lot, as I use all three of these devices on a regular basis. Not only is this device the smallest of the bunch, it is the only one that has a built in screen protector in the form of a polished aluminum cover for ensuring the OLED display avoid scuffs and scratches during transit. The smaller form factor is an advantage and a disadvantage. The disadvantage to me if not being able to see the full address in one place when verifying a transaction.
It does end up scrolling to reveal the full address, but that can be difficult if you are trying to verify letter for letter for confirmation. The advantage would be it’s very discreet and transportable. It slips easily into your pocket, or your keychain if you’re so inclined. But, the largest notable difference is the specific coin support you can’t get anywhere else on a hardware wallet.
As a HUGE advocate for privacy coins, I tend to favor these and accumulate them for personal investment and also private transactions, and as a result, I need a secure place to store them. To their credit, the other hardware wallets are working towards supporting these coins, but Ledger already has support for 2 of my favorite coins, Monero (XMR) and Zcash (ZEC).
Ledger also supports Zcoin (XZC) and a few others as well. These are support by Ledger Live (which I will go over in a minute), which is the native dashboard for managing native applications for these coins which is very convenient.
Additionally, this is the only hardware wallet (currently) that supports Tezos (XTZ), which has a very bright future in my opinion. Tezos is a POS coin that has a new unique blockchain consensus that rivals Ethereum on a number of levels, and I personally believe will be a top 10 coin very very soon.
Not only that, when using Tezos you can “Stake” your coins while holding your private keys while ON the Ledger Nano S. This is HUGE, and is a main reason I use Ledger Nano S, since I like to participate in this process personally. No other hardware wallet has even announces plans for this kind of native support for this at the moment, which gives Ledger a massive edge over the other two in my opinion.
LEDGER NANO S DESIGN
I will keep this section short and sweet, as I addressed above, this is a sleek and compact device, which make its very stable and durable. It has a small OLED screen and 2 physical buttons. This is used for navigating apps, verifying your pin to access to the device, confirming a transaction, and generating the recovery seed words upon first time setup.
When entering in your PIN on the device, the right button will function as the “Up” arrow, and the left button the “Down” arrow for scrolling through your selections, then pressing both at the same time will confirm your selection, so it’s pretty intuitive. It has a one port which is micro USB that connects to a cable to a standards USB port that can be used on a MAC or PC.
CLICK HERE TO BUY THE LEDGER NANO S
LEDGER LIVE – IS THE UPDATE WORTH IT?
This was a MASSIVE upgrade from the chrome apps they were utilizing before. This new desktop app is very clean and seamless. They also have a new mobile app designed for use for the next generation product the Ledger Nano X (We will go over that in a future review) for wireless management. However, the desktop app is very clean and easy to navigate. The first thing once you connect and authenticate your device is a dashboard if you had already have an existing device, showing you your balances and charts on a single screen.
You can see your accounts on the left hand side, and you also see the “Ledger Manager” which is where you add and remove apps. When you perform any firmware upgrades, it requires you to delete the apps on your device (don’t worry your coins are safe) and you re-install them after it is done.
When you first plug in and install the app on your desktop, it will ask you if you want to setup a new device or if you have a device that is already setup and then have you authenticate with the PIN. It will then check for any updates or firmware upgrades that are necessary for you to view your account. Once you have access, it’s pretty easy to manage everything overall, and they have even introduced a way to “Buy Crypto” from such partners as “Coinmama” where you can purchase directly with a debit or credit card, and “Coinbase“, which you can do they same and also use your bank account directly via ACH.
There is also a pricing history dashboard built right in, thanks to an integration with “Kraken” and “Bitfinex“. This allows you to see trends and historical data, which may help you decide at-a-glance what you would like to do for managing your next transaction. Once you install an App, you can create multiple accounts and label them if need be, for managing and organizing your portfolio. The only one complaint I have with it, is if you do use a 3rd party wallet, like “MyEtherWallet“, you have to leave the app and manage your funds on a 3rd party site. Overall, all the native apps work beautifully, and they are adding new coins and assets all the time.
CONCLUSION – BOTTOMLINE
PROS:
-Very easy to setup if you have never used a hardware wallet before, you just need to download the desktop app from Ledger’s website and follow the prompts once you connect it for the first time.
-It’s the cheapest hardware wallet as of this writing at $59.00 USD. If you are just getting started and you only need a few coins to hold at once, this is easily the best intro wallet to keep your private keys stored offline.
-It has the widest range of native apps and newest coins being added all the time and being supported. You can click HERE to view their roadmap to see if your favorite coin is currently in development of being added to the platform.
-It is currently the only hardware wallet that natively supports Tezos (XTZ) and Monero (XMR) if you’re a fan of those coins and other privacy coins in general.
CONS:
-The screen is small and if you’re verifying your transaction address using the small screen, you have to wait for it to scroll, and then verify quickly the characters match before you can authorize the transaction. This is not ideal for a quick at a glance process to ensure the address you’re sending to on the app, matches what shows on your device (VERY IMPORTANT).
– You can really only hold 3 or 4 apps on the device at once. I originally only kept 3 apps on the device, as those were the only coins I needed to add at the time. However, when I went to add a 4th, it told me I needed to remove an existing app to make room. The RAM or space is on the device is very limited, so it’s good if you have only 2-3 coins you want to manage at once.
-They require you go through the process of removing and uninstalling all apps and then going in and reinstalling them for EVERY firmware update. This is tedious and really obnoxious for the serious hardware wallet user. I understand you need to have backups and be careful with every upgrade but c’mon, this is the only device I have this issue with.
As you can see, overall this a is a very solid entry level wallet with top notch security. I recommend if you are a brand new hardware wallet user and you are just dipping your toe into this large pond, this is your best bet. It has a clean, easy to follow interface and you can get started at the cheapest price of only $59.00 to start.
If you do not plan on holding MANY different coins at once on the same wallet, this is the wallet for you. Now, you can use 3rd party wallets to integrate it with, but that’s an entirely different learning curve. If you want to hold 3-5 coins to start and get it done simply and effortlessly, this is where I personally started and I recommend you start.
PURCHASE LEDGER NANO S FROM LEDGER’S OFFICIAL SITE
What do you think? Is there a better wallet you recommend for people getting started? Let me know in the comments below!
Cheers,
The Crypto Renegade
NOTE: This post may contain affiliate links. This adds no cost to you but it helps me focus on giving as much value as possible in every single post by being compensated for recommending products that help people succeed.
