Let's talk about U Card and cryptocurrency payments
Recently, there has been a lot of discussion about U Cards, and many friends often ask me which one I recommend. To be honest, since I live in Singapore, it's quite convenient for me to withdraw funds legally, so I don't use U Cards much. However, globally, U Cards remain one of the best payment methods connecting cryptocurrency to the real world.
The essence of the U Card is a stablecoin + the Visa/Mastercard global clearing network. For users in the crypto space, it solves the security dilemma of "spending equals withdrawal"; for users in regions like Latin America and North Africa, a U Card is equivalent to an "offshore dollar card." It grants people the right to escape currency devaluation, access global digital services (like Netflix, ChatGPT), and spend anywhere that supports Visa.
The U Card addresses the issue of "breadth," but in today's world with highly differentiated payment habits, it is not a panacea. For example, in Vietnam, where I often go, the situation is very similar to China—mobile payments have skipped the "credit card era" and directly entered the "QR code era."
In Vietnam, large shopping malls may accept card payments, but if you want to enjoy pho on the street or buy a bottle of water at a convenience store, cards become quite ineffective. This is the pain point; the U Card relies on traditional card terminals, while Vietnam's micro-economy relies on QR codes. Ho Chi Minh City is a place I personally have high hopes for; it is friendly to cryptocurrency, has a large audience, and the local environment is comparable to China in the 1980s to 1990s, with many investment opportunities in the cryptocurrency field.
In Vietnam, I have experienced the best cryptocurrency payment method, which is not any card, but the QR code payment feature of Bitget Wallet.
Many people may not know or have used this feature of Bitget Wallet, but it is actually similar to the payment experience of WeChat or Alipay. You use the wallet to scan the local country's QR code on the streets of Vietnam and then pay in USDT/USDC, and the payment is completed.
It directly connects cryptocurrency to Vietnam's VIETQR national QR code, and the logic behind this feature is also very interesting:
User side: Directly scan the merchant's payment code with the wallet, and the payment is in U.
Settlement side: The backend conducts the settlement between cryptocurrency and fiat currency.
Merchant side: This is the most critical part; the merchant receives Vietnamese dong (fiat currency).
This means there is no need to teach the lady selling pho what USDT is, nor does she need to install a wallet; she just needs to display her existing payment code to receive money, and the transaction is complete. This kind of "frictionless" experience is one of the best scenarios for technology implementation. Overall, if you like Vietnam, often visit Vietnam, and don't want to carry a lot of cash, then Bitget Wallet should be the best payment channel in Vietnam, almost without exception.
Oh, I almost forgot, the exchange rate is very important. The main reason we use QR code payments is to avoid exchange rate losses, especially since the Vietnamese dong has depreciated significantly in the past year. From my own testing, the exchange rate of Bitget Wallet is slightly better than the real-time rate, but it is higher than Wise's rate. However, Wise is already the best exchange channel in my opinion, and the exchange rate of Bitget Wallet has not been particularly high during the time I used it.
For example, I recently paid 1 million Vietnamese dong, which actually deducted $37.53; the real-time exchange rate at that time was $38, and Wise's rate was $36.7. Although Wise is great, its support in Vietnam is really poor, so Bitget Wallet's actual exchange rate is still quite good, much more suitable than currency exchange shops.
Additionally, Bitget Wallet also supports national QR code payments in the Philippines and Brazil. Currently, the security situation in the Philippines has deterred me; thinking back to a few years ago when I could swim alone on the islands in the Philippines, I no longer have that kind of courage, and South America is even less appealing.
Oh, by the way, Bitget Wallet also supports payments in Africa and Mexico, allowing direct bank transfers, where the U in the wallet is directly transferred to the merchant's bank account in fiat currency, which is pretty cool. Initially, I planned to use Bitget Wallet to go to the Serengeti to see the animal migration. I had originally discussed going with a few neighbors after the New Year, but due to the recent issues in Africa, everyone became very concerned and didn't dare to go, so the trip to Africa was put on hold.
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