How to Live Completely off STEEM: Using a Virtual & Physical Debit Card Topped Up with STEEM

in steem •  8 years ago 

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Hey All,

While I take a break writing my Prison Series until next week, I wanted to talk about how I pay my bills and live completely using STEEM. It's really easy and automated once you get started.

The cards work worldwide and is perfect for authors who live off of STEEM and constantly on the road.

Others cards are usually only for US citizens where E-Coin only has a small number of counties they do not support.

I personally have been using this card, especially with Uber. I've had a problem with my BitPay and other cards with Uber but this card works wonders.

Step 1

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Sign up for an account at E-Coin

(Note: This is my referral link, you will get a 25% discount on ALL available cards (USD/EUR/GBP))

Step 2

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The quickest and easiest method is to get a Virtual Card. It costs $3.00 and gets delivered to your email instantly. You will get the Card Number, CVV, and you set your Billing Address and PIN. It can be denominated in USD, EUR, or GBP

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The second option is ordering a physical card which costs $12.75 (Minus 25% for using my link above))

The fees and limits for using the card are really low: https://www.e-coin.io/bitcoin-debit-card-fees-and-limits

Step 3

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Once you have your virtual card, login into the E-Coin account page. I recommend setting up 2 factor authentication. Download the app for iPhone or Android.

Step 4

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Click Top Up With Shapeshift and complete a deposit!

You can also deposit Bitcoin or any of the dozens of digital currencies.

Step 5

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Once you have deposited STEEM, click Load Card to convert the funds to fiat and start spending!

The whole process can take 10 minutes and topping up only takes confirmation. I do everything from my mobile.

What is your method of spending STEEM? Do you have any questions?

-Charlie

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The same content has been posted by @b0y2k long time ago. No need to promote for the same company twice with so much money, IMHO.
https://steemit.com/money/@b0y2k/convert-your-steem-dollars-to-physical-money-to-spend-or-withdraw-anywhere

So, if Steem grows to the size of Facebook, will you still be there to mention that someone mentioned a certain item more than once? If so, you are going to get very busy.

That would be @anyx 's job and I respect what he did. We still have a long way to go to reach that dream. My point is to say that no need to pay that much money for the same content. Please free to post duplicated.

Of course thats what steemit is about, If your known and have a lot of followers you can post about what ever you want and still make money off it. More like rigged but hey I would have done it too I guess


LMFAO! @dollarvigilante put you in your place! 8D

Hahah I feel bad for E-Coin, they probably launched before Mr. Robot was even a TV show.

  ·  8 years ago (edited)

Season 2 Ep >ep5 and we are back to classic good ole Mr. Robot. Bloody brilliant. I am only starting to see them push E-Coin in these recent episodes I have watched. The timing of this post, including my other comment, is quite bizarre. :)

Hahah where you watching mr robot when you posted this? I bet you did.

How does steemit generate its own revenue, before even giving out to its authors?

Interneter of the day award: @blocktrades

Note : Max load on a card for an unverified account is $2,500 for a lifetime, which is designated as 3 years.

You're living the dream, @charlieshrem.

I use a Shift card tied to my Coinbase account on occasion, and Shapeshift into it via the transfer function.... but I definitely haven't made enough to 'live' off of. With the quality of your posts and the amount of upvotes, you most certainly could live off that.

On that note, I implore you to continue being a vocal ambassador for this platform. People like Tone Vays make Steemit out to be no better than OneCoin on Twitter.

We need more folks with your level of bona fides speaking on behalf of all of us who have no real name to speak of in the crypto space, but believe in the value proposition of the platform and what can be accomplished.

Tip of the hat to you. You've certainly earned all that you receive here.

-Blake

  ·  8 years ago (edited)

I was going to post my obligatory liquidity trap reply somewhere in here, and you gave me the opportunity:

People like Tone Vays, whoever the hell he is (the guy who sang wild thing?), have a pretty easy easy time doing that when famous people get paid thousands of dollars to post recycled NC common sense instructions on how to get a debit card.

just sayin

Note, @charlieshrem is in my top 3 favorite authors, and i think this is his first legitimate laundry list. But still.

A few steps are missing in this post, so I made a complete guide:
How to live completely off STEEM: Complete Guide

Awesome Charlie,
Is there any problem with just sending fiat to the card? I've been looking for a simple btc card that I can move fiat to easily and without all the baggage that comes from a US Inc institution.
It looks like the BTC fee is about 2%. Is that consistent?

Hrmmm, it's not applying the discount. I can only assume it's not crediting you either. :/

  ·  8 years ago (edited)

I have one problem with this I have no steem to load into it lol Hopefully one day

did my best to give you steem :)
ciao

Ahh bles I have to work harder lol

That's pretty sweet. Hopefully one of posts can make money again I can try this out ;-)

Matter of persistence. And a tad lil' bit of luck, heh.

:D persistence is a big part and luck. But, there is also some strategy involved and that is the part I like about Steemit.

I love the idea of this. Now if I can just get more than $10 in my Steemit account, I can do one of those "New York on 10 Steemit dollars a day" articles!

Sup man the ecoin is great and all except it doesn't support my country

  ·  8 years ago (edited)

Thank you for this. Truly a good find/read that I was not aware of. My friend @andraslife just asked me tonight how she can convert her Steem/SBD to EUR. All the other options are quite clunky, and I felt quite bad, because I had dragged her onto Steemit. The best suggestion was Steem/SBD>Bittrext (BTC)> localbitcoins.com. I will be passing this much more simple way on to her.

How does the process work using the virtual card at a debit store or atm? Can you use the virtual card like this? Or does it have to be a physical card to use like so and the virtual card is only for e.g. online shopping?

Thank you, seriously good post. In Australia, I use coinjar and their bitcoin debit card, but it doesn't have this 'top up' with Shapeshift integration, which is really a +1. I am disappointed e-coin is not available for AUD.

  ·  8 years ago (edited)

Well. We Russians have it even easier, with @on0tole providing 1 way stop to fiat with no commission, but I am yet to spend any STEEM or SBD, because I am yet to earn any meaningful amount to spend. 8) So, I am holdong my stuff, and doing my best to bring value to the platform. And yeah, it is going to be a long game for guys like me, since I am not anything really special, as far as the people who decide on payouts are concerned. Yet. 8)

Thanks, I plan to soon open exchange SD/STEEM for USD/EUR SEPA/SWIFT transfer

Thank you for sharing, the world of CryptoCurrency continues to evolve and I'm grateful for the benefit of other people's knowledge and experience.

  ·  8 years ago (edited)

Is this real? Can you really live off of steem?

It is almost like trying to live off of gold... which reminds me, I just posted about some I found in a Walmart parking lot (seriously)...

https://steemit.com/life/@jrcornel/there-s-gold-in-walmart-s-parking-lot-literally

wow cool. thanks for the info. i don't usually up-vote you for jealousy reasons, but I'll make an exception. :) Actually, I usually avoid voting on anything likely to be over $1000 dollars.

This gets better all the time!

What about CAD ? considering cryptocurrencies are big in Canada and most of steemit traffic comes from Canada ?
Any how thanks for the post

I like QuadrigaCX for Canuck exchange. Great customer service. but that's to your bank account not there own debit....at least not that I know of. Unlikely.

Either way you support a credit company or a bank. at least for a bit

Awesome thank you . I was looking for a good exchange to my bank account .

but yeah not direct steem. I don't think it makes that much a difference. The fees are so low converting and then going to an exchange

Are you Canadian as well? I'm taking it you have used that site.

I signed up but have to wait to confirm ID, I get nervous now ever since I got burned on that steemit scam.

Yeah I'm Canuck.
It takes some time to approve for first verification. then you have to send your ID and proof address to link bank account.
it says in their terms of service how long you have to wait to have full veri approved.

Awesome! Thanks for sharing this and making this so clear and easy to follow. Definitely a good idea.

  ·  8 years ago (edited)

Interesting. Was about to order for a payoneer mastercard.. I think I'll go for this then...

You've got an ardent fan in me. Really awesome to follow your stories..
Hey, do you think we can do something exclusively on steemit for SteemMag.. It would be splendid.. Email?

@infovore payoneer is terrible. Avoid it at all costs. They have a rep for closing accounts for no reason and making it very difficult to get the money in them.

Wow. Thanks.. Never knew that...

I've always liked this system.

Good morning, @charlieshrem. I just tried to sign up for the physical card but didn't see the United States as an option for the "country" field when completing the process. I'm wondering if I maybe just missed something?

Ok you now really have my attention. I will get to work setting this up for bitcoin asap. Upvoted!

What do you do about the Steem Dollar -> Steem step? The spread on the internal market can get pretty insane. Or is this from powered down Steem?

Indeed, as ironic as it is, converting SBD to Steem without taking a heavy discount is proving quite difficult. :P

This is something I actually need. Thanks, will make sure to use your link when ordering it!

We are definitely ordering one Charlie! I have seen a few people mention this one and it seems to be working everywhere just fine.

This system is so good. Thank you for that.

I will test it in European Union

@charlieshrem they are rebranding so your link will not benefit anyone. You need to use your new link with the new website.

Thanks for sharing. I looked into this and if you are in the US, the only card you can use is virtual. I didn't see the United States listed under the countries they ship physical cards to.

The virtual Card is pretty awesome !

Hell. I have to make a hard choice here. I am deciding who I want to follow and to what end lately.
I think you posts have been good, what gets me is at the end of most of them, you ask for questions.... And I see very little responses.

I am sure it is a much larger scale on your end, I don't find 3 generic responses much at all. My support is not needed as you do well. I just want and expect more from a top paid author however so I choose to remove my support and unfollow. Best to you though.

Finally, another card for China. I don't have one yet than can be loaded directly using STEEM though....hmmm.

I love that there is a new card available for China, AND that it can be charged using STEEM, without a BTC conversion. But...when the SHTF, and it will soon, will the Visa and MasterCard networks be working? I have this same concern with the cards I already use.

Oh man, I need it, looks great, too usefull

Nice information, thank you :)

Thanks for excellent article! As an alternative you can also check https://coinsbank.com/cards-details

Hello Mr. Shrem, this is my method : https://steemit.com/steemit/@leprechaun/a-visa-debit-card-without-a-bank-account. I got more for this one on bitcointalk than on sreemit.

This is such a good idea, many of the people I talk to about Steemit say if they could just spend it then they would actually consider this so definitely a game changer

I suggest using different 'debit' card provider and exchange with better rate

I use e coin, i compared it with xapo and cryptopay, since the others are not even worth it.

E coin has the best fees. I have only used it with bitcoin though.

When i used shapeshift i did not get a good rate on my digibytes. But for sure shapeshift is a great tool.

Heeeey, this is nifty! Thanks so much @charlieshrem. Being new to cryptocurrecies, I have a lot of questions, and this has definitely answered several of them!

What a change. It became so much more easy to use crypto currencies. I just think 4 years back and how new it was then.
@steempowerwhale 🐳
🌞 upvoting your lifetime dreams!

  ·  8 years ago (edited)

Thanks for sharing this material, I like what you posted. Thank you so much