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Bitsa

Latest release: 2.10.2 ( 31st October 2022 ) 🔍 Last analysed 2nd November 2021 . Can't send or receive bitcoins
2.7 ★★★★★
884 ratings
100 thousand
9th April 2019

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Do your own research!

Try out searching for "lost bitcoins", "stole my money" or "scammers" together with the wallet's name, even if you think the wallet is generally trustworthy. For all the bigger wallets you will find accusations. Make sure you understand why they were made and if you are comfortable with the provider's reaction.

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The Analysis 

App Description

👉 Create your free virtual card or order your plastic card directly from the App. Enjoy a rechargeable VISA prepaid card with which you can safely buy online or at any store, withdraw cash at ATMs, make transfers, get cashback and exclusive benefits, and control all your expenses from the same App at the click of a button.

Bitsa is a debit card provider that allows users to withdraw fiat from ATM machines. The app can also be used for fiat transfers and payments. Its relation to cryptocurrencies is that it allows top-ups from cryptocurrencies and converts these into fiat cash to be withdrawn or used in electronic payments.

The zendesk article “In a recharge with cryptocurrencies, why doesn’t the money from my wallet reach my card?” is informative:

One of the options to reload our card is to use cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin. The process is very simple and consists of selecting that payment method in the top-up section of the Bitsa app.

Don’t forget that the card doesn’t have a wallet associated with it. The card contains euros for its use and is not linked to any cryptocurrency. We take care, through an automated gateway, to convert your cryptocurrencies into euros and thus recharge, transparently, your Bitsa card.

This app cannot send or receive BTC.

(dg)

Verdict Explained

The product can't send or receive BTC.

As part of our Methodology, we ask:

No send/receive!

Can it send and receive bitcoins?

If the answer is "no", we mark it as "Can't send or receive bitcoins".

If it is for holding BTC but you can’t actually send or receive them with this product then it doesn’t function like a wallet for BTC but you might still be using it to hold your bitcoins with the intention to convert back to fiat when you “cash out”.

All products in this category are custodial and thus funds are at the mercy of the provider.

The product cannot be independently verified. If the provider puts your funds at risk on purpose or by accident, you will probably not know about the issue before people start losing money. If the provider is more criminally inclined he might have collected all the backups of all the wallets, ready to be emptied at the press of a button. The product might have a formidable track record but out of distress or change in management turns out to be evil from some point on, with nobody outside ever knowing before it is too late.