It’s become commonplace for credit cards to offer rewards to their users including cash back, reward points, and airline miles. In fact, consumers have come to expect rewards as a consistent perk to using credit cards. However, in the cryptocurrency world, most cards that have been offered to date (TenX, Monaco, etc.) do not offer any rewards for users apart from the tokenized platform their built on. A new card, however, has joined the crypto card field, and promises to incentivize users with tokens as well as rewards, combining the best of traditional cards and new financial models.
Real-time Crypto Transactions
Empire card, founded by CEO Patricia Harrison, is a new card in the cryptosphere, but has already made a big splash. The transaction processing platform is designed with a multisite dual key system allowing for instantaneous exchange between cryptocurrency and fiat currency. This process ensures that card users are able to complete a retail transaction in seconds while the confirmation process continues post-sale. Unlike other cards on the market, the Empire card doesn’t convert the cryptocurrency into fiat when users load the card. While some cards do offer real-time cryptocurrency transactions, most charge exceptionally high rates per transaction, and can often gouge users through exchange rates at the time of sale. Empire card, however, does neither of these and instead, with the multisite dual key, is able to complete transaction processing after the sale is already completed.
This process is similar to a traditional credit card. The Empire card locks funds as a hold at the time of sale, allowing for an affirmative transaction, while at the same time initiating the transaction completion after the sale is completed. Currently most credit card companies use a similar means of payment processing, allowing customers to complete transactions in seconds, while the processing can happen behind the scenes over time.
Rewards for Users
Further, Empire card is unique among crypto cards in offering benefits and rewards to users. The card offers hotel and airline points for expenditures made. Users are able to receive rewards via reward account balances, just as with other credit reward systems. Users will also have lounge privileges in airports and hotel perks through contracts with the Star Alliance airline group, and two other hotel groups. Points will accrue as normal, unless a user has a gold, platinum or black card. If so, the card will receive as much as 4x the reward points of a regular card. These special cards can be obtained via investment in the tokenized Empire card platform.
ICO and Presale
The ICO is still 4 days away and will begin on August 21, but savvy investors can jump into the Empire card ecosystem by investing during the presale. Pre-sale investors will receive a 30% bonus (1 ETH=1300 EMP). This perk ends when the crowd sale begins. Those who invest in the Empire card platform will receive dividend rewards for their ownership stake in the company via EMP tokens using the customary ‘one coin, one share’ model. Investors can expect to receive these rewards in real time, as the value of the coins increases with the profitability of the card model. Coins will be exchangeable via cryptocurrency exchanges after the ICO.
While cryptocurrencies seek to distance themselves from traditional models of banking and finance, the crypto card world has finally learned to take a lesson from traditional credit card systems. Empire card unites the benefits of cryptocurrency usage with the expected incentives associated with legacy credit card models. This combination of traditional and forward-thinking models will undoubtedly help the Empire card bring cryptocurrencies and debit card purchases out of the shadows more into the main stream financial world for ordinary users.
