Xapo is a Swiss bitcoin company that launched in 2013, when its owner needed a safe way to store his first Bitcoin. Like South Africa, Argentina is a country with political and economic upheavals. Soon, major financial institutions were asking him for permission to use his vault for their Bitcoin.

The Argentinian owner decided to base the company in Switzerland, because of the highly esteemed reputation of the country as a business centre of the world. Switzerland and Swiss banks have a reputation for being the most discreet and safest in the world, because of the country’s long history of political neutrality and internal stability.

Swizerland is also not in an area fraught with natural disasters – and, of course, it has progressive modern systems in all areas of business and life. A great choice for the home of the most secure Bitcoin storage facility in the world!

The Xapo Vault, Wallet and Debit Card was launched in 2014 for the man-in-the-street user, and it’s a real innovation in the high-tech bitcoin mining universe. South African Xapo users have been increasing in number since its launch to the general public.

Let’s look at a few of the ways it’s changing the world of Bitcoin, and why you should use it.

1. The Xapo vault is extremely safe

The Vault is Xapo's most important product, and is the preferred solution of many of the largest institutions and Bitcoin owning individuals in the world. It has one of the largest “cold storage” collections of Bitcoin in existence.

The Vault is used by large and small holders of Bitcoin who need a highly secure place to store their coins, and it’s used worldwide.

The Xapo Vault is widely said by financial experts and sources to be the world’s most secure Bitcoin bank - as secure as Fort Knox. It’s secured by advanced encryption and key management, multi-signature bitcoin addresses, military grade physical security (such as faraday cages), and highly secure processes to keep all Bitcoin offline and geographically dispersed.

On the Xapo website, they explain their Vault by comparing it to a safety deposit box at the bank - if you want to get your cash or items out of the box, you first pass the bank’s armed security, then the fingerprint scanner, and then you must have the matching key.\So there are several levels of security before you can get your items – just to prove it’s really you. This is how safe the Vault is – there are several levels of security to go through, making it nearly impossible for anyone but yourself to access your Bitcoin.

2. Xapo insures your Bitcoin 

Xapo is insured by Meridian Global, a large international insurance company.

How it works: if something happens to your Bitcoin and it wasn’t your fault (i.e. you have all your security firewalls in place and can’t be hacked), they will be refunded to you. If Xapo itself is attacked by hackers or something else happens to the company that is out of YOUR control as a user, they return your coins.

3. Xapo makes sure you can retrieve your Bitcoin quickly

The Xapo Wallet lets you access your money easily, and use your Bitcoin to pay for everyday expenses.

Once you’ve passed all the security measures, it takes 48 hours (working days) to transfer your coins from your Xapo vault to your wallet. Then you can use your Bitcoin to pay for everyday expenses. if you want to buy something or transfer Bitcoin to someone else, it’s as fast and simple as using Internet banking.

So if you want to transfer money to family, buying a takeaway at your local cafe, or paying your bills, your money is easily available to you.

When you want to buy something or transfer bitcoin, simply click the "Send" button from the "Wallet" screen on our website or mobile app, enter the amount you want to send and add the email or bitcoin address of the recipient.

Best of all – the Vault and Wallet are free to use.

4. The Xapo Debit Card is easy to use and inexpensive

The Xapo Bitcoin Debit Card is one of the world’s first debit cards that you can use with Bitcoin. It’s a Visa card used for purchases in shops, online and to withdraw cash at ATMs - all of this directly in Bitcoin. The card is accepted in many shops in South Africa, and billions of shops and ATMs around the world.

The Xapo Card works just like any other debit card, but instead using your bank account funds, it debits purchases directly in Bitcoin from your Xapo Wallet. The Xapo Debit Card is not a pre-paid card, so you don’t need to pre-load cards with cash to make your purchases.

The Debit Card is only linked with your Xapo main wallet - never the Vault, or other additional wallets you may create on Xapo. You should keep your long-term savings in the Vault.

The Xapo Debit Card will cost $20 for your initial fee, you can check out the support links on their website for more information on fees involved.

If your card is lost or stolen, you can quickly move your funds from your Wallet to your Vault for safety, and contact Xapo to cancel and re-issue the card. It works like any debit card linked to your normal bank, in other words.

5. Using Xapo will make Bitcoin more stable 

Like any normal currency, the value of Bitcoin fluctuates from time to time. This is normal and nothing to be alarmed about – the trends are definitely heading generally upwards.

The more normal people like you and me use Bitcoin, the more shopkeepers and other business establishments get used to it, and start to trust and appreciate it as a legitimate currency of value.

This means that the easier it is for someone to pay for their groceries at the supermarket in Bitcoin, or buy petrol at the gas station with Bitcoin, or send a friend or family member money in Bitcoin – the more the demand for Bitcoin will increase.

Xapo is making it easy to use Bitcoin for payments at shops, and to draw from ATMs – so the public is starting to trust it, and its value is increasing. South African Bitcoin users now have the option of investing in a currency unaffected by the political and economic climate of the country – AND the advantage of knowing their investment is as safe as can be!