Buy bitcoin with Elcart

What is Elcart?

Elcart, also written Elkart or ELCARD, is Kyrgyzstan's national payment card scheme, launched in 2006. The National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic designates the Interbank Processing Center, a closed joint stock company, as its operator, and requires pensions, social allowances and other budget payments to be paid onto the national scheme. Cards are issued by 21 commercial banks and 3 payment organisations. A standard Elcart card is built for domestic acceptance at Kyrgyz ATMs and terminals, so treat it as a local card, although some Kyrgyz banks issue a co-badged Elcart card that also runs on an international scheme abroad.

Speed

Card authorisation is immediate and the amount is held on the card at once, though the settlement behind it takes a day or more.

Cost

The operator lists an ATM cash withdrawal commission of 0 to 0.6 percent of the amount, set by the issuing bank rather than by the scheme.

Limits

Daily withdrawal and spending caps come from the issuing bank rather than from the scheme, so they vary from one Kyrgyz bank to the next.

Speed and cost describe the rail itself. What an exchange adds on top varies by platform and is shown per exchange below.

Using Elcart in Kyrgyzstan

Elcart appears in one country guide on this site, Kyrgyzstan, where deposits settle in Kyrgyzstani som (KGS). Buyers there fund exchange accounts with Visa, Mastercard, P2P transfers via local banks, Licensed exchange office and others as well, and the country guide ranks the exchanges that take each one.

Buy bitcoin with Elcart in Kyrgyzstan