Under construction!
Feel free to email suggestions for FAQs or general feedback to info@kinesismoneyexplained.com.
How does Kinesis compare to other storage providers?
What is the easiest and cheapest way to fund my account?
Users can transfer directly from their bank account. Non-US users can use a company such as Wise to convert their currency to USD before transferring. This will save on conversion costs.
The cheapest way for many right now is to send your local fiat to a crypto exchange. Buy a crypto Kinesis uses that has cheap network fees, and send that to Kinesis. If you are using Kinesis it is unlikely you would keep your balance in USD in any case.
On ramp banking partners for the UK and Europe are in the works which will allow direct depositing in these currencies as well as processing of debit card payments. I expect the US to follow later as well.
From Australia I send AUD directly from my bank to Kinesis’ Australian bank account. No fees are charged, and I can trade directly on the exchange from there.
How do the debit cards work – do I need to top up?
Now this is really cool! No top up is needed, you simply pre-select an order of up to 5 assets (fiat, metals or crypto), and the system will automatically sell those assets in order at time of purchase.
Let’s say I’m buying something for $100 on my Kinesis virtual card. I have selected these 5 assets in this order and have the following balances:
- KAU – $40
- KAG – $35
- BTC – $20
- XRP – $10
- USD – $20
At point of sale, the system immediately sells all my KAU, KAG, BTC and $5 worth of XRP for a total of $100 to pay for the transaction.
Check out Kinesis member Troglodytes eBay purchase showing this in action.
What is happening with the Kinesis debit cards?
The Kinesis Virtual Debit Card (VCD) has just GONE LIVE to 61 countries. The biggest omission so far is the US because of complex regulatory issues, but that will be resolved soon with the physical card.
The VDC is available with Google Pay, and once the mandatory 6 month app beta period is over, Apple Pay as well.
Give me an overview of the Kinesis debit cards features
The Kinesis virtual debit card:
- Spend gold, silver or crypto in your preferred order with instant conversion at point of sale (no prepaid card here!)
- High spend limits (15,000 Euro daily, 400,000 Euro monthly)
- Earn a yield on your spending of KAU or KAG (Velocity Yield)
- Spend anywhere Mastercard is accepted
- No setup, monthly or annual fees
- Very competitive fees for a point of sale crypto card – usual 0.22% execution fee for exchanging KAU, KAG or crypto to USD + 1.95% transaction fee of which Kinesis contributes it’s entire shares back into the master fee pool
You can see the transactions appear in your account as soon as a purchase is made:
Where can I find more details on the Kinesis Virtual Debit Card?
Kinesis covers the major topics on the virtual debit card in great detail including:
What fees are there for using Kinesis?
Insured, audited storage of gold and silver – No fees
Trade execution fees on the exchange – 0.22%
Wallet and account transfers – 0.45%
Spend on virtual debit card – 1.95% card provider fee + 0.22% trade execution fee for a total of 2.17%, BUT Kinesis puts its 0.95% of the provider fee back into master fee pool, PLUS with the forthcoming 3% cashback (well goldback) at leading US stores, the fee could be negative in many cases.
For a full list of fees click here.
When will KVTs be tradable on the exchange?
This is yet to be confirmed, but will likely be after the KVT yield payments start to be made. My guess is after partnerships generate a yield large enough to justify current exchange price.
How do I purchase discount KVTs?
Not for profit organisation Citizens for Sound Money are selling discount KVTs. At time of writing you can purchase 2 KVTs for $1100 each ($1,050 with a referral code).
For each person you refer you can buy an additional discounted KVT. Beyond that they are $1,450 each.
You can use my referral code for this if you like – K263
What is Referral Silver Rewards?
Kinesis will reward you and a referrer with 1/2 KAG (1/2 Oz Silver) each when you sign up via a referral link such as mine and:
- Complete KYC requirements
- Deposit a minimum $100 worth of fiat or crypto, and
- Trade a minimum of $3,000 worth of KAU, KAG or crypto in the Kinesis Exchange.
How does Kinesis Cashback work?
Essentially you generate a voucher either on your computer (eg for buying online), or in the Kinesis App (eg for buying in store) for the amount you are spending at a participating retailer, use that voucher to make the purchase using KAU or KAG and then receive 3% of the transaction value back into your Kinesis account in KAU or KAG.
More information and FAQs can be found here, and a complete guide to the feature here.