UK’s Royal Mint Launches A $23,000 18-Karat Raris Gold Debit Card for Rich Shoppers
The UK’s Royal Mint is making plans to launch a $23,000 18-karat gold Raris debit card for dedicated shoppers. According to the news report, wealthy shoppers would likely have a new shiny way to spend their cash around with the form of an 18-karat gold debit card that will set holders back about $23,000.
According to the UK’s Royal Mint in a statement on Friday, the solid gold debit card would be the first debit card to be made of valued metal. UK’s Royal Mint added that the gold that would be used to craft the payment cards would be source-traceable. That means, the origin of gold can be verified, the mint told in a speech.
However, the gold debit card wouldn’t come cheap. The basic price starts at £18750, which is about $23000, with other charges for custom designs on the back and front of the card. Any customer who buys the card automatically becomes a Raris account holder with MasterCard. More so, buyers will get instant access to a premium account that offers zero transaction fees and foreign exchange fees.
The Royal Mint, which has been in the business of minting coins in the UK for more than 1100 years, created the debit card using MasterCard and Accomplish Financial, a company that provides services for online payments.
A spokesperson for the Royal Mint told CNN that initially, 50 gold payment cards would be produced all with a similar design. However, a new card design would be made public for further payment cards within the range.
A spokesman for MasterCard, James Thorpe, told CNN that the gold debit card project took a couple of years from planning to launching. He added that it had been a big challenge for the company to conform with the debits cards to transaction systems. He also said that just like any other metal payment card, the new gold debits cards would not work with non-contact technology.
Several tech firms have been launching their premium metal payment cards to their customers lately. For instance, Revolut and N26 both launched stainless steel debit cards, while Apple launched a credit card made of titanium earlier this year.
When asked why anyone will want to buy the gold card, James said there are only a few things that are unique within this world and concerning the gold card, and he said: “…this is a valuable and remarkable product.”
According to James, the good thing for buyers is that the new gold debits cards would be “counted exactly like other payment cards” and if stolen or lost, the gold card would be replaced, provided the terms and conditions of the card have been fulfilled.
The Royal Mint stated that the gold debit card is for those people “who appreciate high-quality luxury items that make a statement.”
The CEO of the Royal Mint, Anne Jessopp, said in a statement that the launch of the gold debit card is in acknowledgement of growing consumers’ demands for luxury and unique payment cards. She added that the Royal Mint is the UK’s top precious metals solutions provider and is continually innovating.
