Can a pre-paid debit card be used to buy cryptocurrencies?

At it's cryptocurrency launch it was promised that Revolut would offer:

"the most competitive rates on crypto transactions, charging only a flat, up-front 1.5 percent without other hidden fees that can add up to 5 percent to 9 percent on other platforms."

I've had a Revolut account for a while now, but have mainly used Monzo as it's more focused on day-to-day spending rather than currency swapping (Revoluts focus). The fact Revolut charge £5 for a new card vs. Monzos £0 also came into play.

A month ago however I noticed an article about Revolut adding crypto-trading functionality, so I signed up to the beta and waited. I never got on the beta testing, but today signed up to a premium account today and have tested it out.

So, how does it work??

It does allow you to buy with any of Revolut’s base currencies so there’s no need for extra foreign exchange fees if you want to buy in Swiss Francs, for example.

BUT.....

It turns out you currently can't transfer any crypto out of Revolut - you can transfer to another user, which may enable some 3rd party selling options, but apart from that you can only convert back to one of the other currencies at a later date.

The only rate you can take therefore is Revoluts, and they are by no means clear on how they set their rates. The seem competitive, yes, but will they always be?

There also isn't the functionality to transfer cryptocurrencies to your Revolut account, so currently no ability to use these 'unbeatable rates' to cash out some crypto...

What they have said on the matter:

When asked if they would ever change the way it is currently set up, they replied:

Not at the moment but we may consider it in the future Daryl

— Revolut (@RevolutApp) December 8, 2017

and in their blog post they say:

"Initially, there will be two key limitations with our offering which are,

• No external loads in crypto — you can however continue to instantly top-up via your debit/credit card and exchange into crypto, and
• No external transfers in crypto — you can instantly send crypto to your peers on Revolut, but your balance will be first converted into fiat if you wish to transfer the balance externally."

It's going to be interesting to see how long this "initial" period lasts for......

Overall

Pros: easy to buy
Cons: you don't own the crypto / can't send it to another wallet

This downside is very dangerous. Revolut may get hacked as Nicehash & others have recently, and you could lose all your crypto. Plus, you can't trade it with anyone apart from Revolut (i.e. you can't choose which exchange to sell it on, or at which price)