CoinMama, allowing the purchase of Bitcoin with Credit Card
Bitcoin was introduced in 2009, but recently, they have become the financial media’s favorite obsession. Wall Street analysts are getting questions from their clients about Bitcoins, Bitcoin ATMs are being put up around the world and the price of a single Bitcoin has passed the $1,000 mark again yesterday. The value has fluctuated wildly, and right now, a single Bitcoin is worth about $810. A Bitcoin functions like a normal currency, but also differs a lot from a normal currency in that Bitcoin are not issued by a government or a central bank. They are produced by complex computer processing which is called Bitcoin mining.
Previously, i have given a tutorial on how to purchase Bitcoin with Paypal using the online portal Virwox. Virwox is a viable option if you are fine with the fees associated with it, and you have to first purchase another virtual currency which is the Second Life Linden dollar and convert it into Bitcoin. There would be fees associated with each conversion, but is a viable way if you need to purchase Bitcoins with Paypal. Today, i will introduce another option to get your hands on some Bitcoins with a credit card.
Normally, you can’t just whip out your credit card to purchase Bitcoin. Bitcoin transactions are completely anonymous and none of the big exchanges would not accept credit card or Paypal as a method of payment, to avoid the risk of fraudulent chargebacks. There is a website called CoinMama which allow safe and easy purchase of the virtual currency Bitcoin. While it is stated that they accept Paypal and credit card, there is a trick to do this. CoinMama introduced not one but two solutions to use your credit card to purchase Bitcoin.
“We created a platform that allows the safe and secure purchase of Bitcoins using PayPal, saves time and effort, and basically allows everyone to take part in the Bitcoin madness,” says Jack Nill, Marketing manager at CoinMama.
The website is working with Western Union and MoneyGram that offer a money transfer via credit card service. All you have to do is to choose the amount of coins you want to purchase, send a money transfer using your credit or debit card and once they have verified your payment, Bitcoins will be delivered directly to your wallet. From my experience, the site is charging roughly 20 percent premium above Mt-Gox price though.
While more countries are making it more difficult for its citizens to purchase crypto-currencies, there is a growing demand for services such as CoinMama.
