oDesk is pleased to announce a new way for providers to receive their earnings: the oDesk Debit MasterCard, powered by Payoneer, is now available for pre-order.

The oDesk Debit MasterCard is a prepaid debit MasterCard. A provider’s earnings are loaded directly onto the card, which can then be used to withdraw cash at any MasterCard ATM worldwide as well as make purchases anywhere MasterCard is accepted, in stores or online. We believe it will be the best way to receive funds for most non-US providers, with low fees, the best exchange rates in the world, fast transfer and the convenience of a MasterCard.

We will be shipping cards around the second week of May, and will waive the activation fee for providers who pre-order their cards before then. To pre-order your card, providers should log into oDesk and go to the new My Money tab.

The oDesk Debit MasterCard is available for providers in all oDesk countries, and will replace iKobo for providers in Ukraine.

For more information on the oDesk Debit MasterCard, visit the oDesk Guide to Payoneer or discuss the new card here.

This week we reached a major milestone in the marketplace - $10M has been spent on outsourced technology jobs through oDesk!

We’re very excited about the news and we know we have our buyers and providers to thanks for this achievement, so thank you!

Michael Arrington and Rafe Needleman both covered the news, about which we’ll be sharing more details on Monday. Stay tuned!

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Abid Mohsin

…so are we and we’d love to see you. oDesk is exhibiting at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco next week. If you are planning to be there, please stop by our booth to say “hello” and enjoy a treat. We’ll be in one of the kiosks in the Long-Tail Pavilion.

We’re really excited about the conference. It’s a great opportunity to see what’s new and meet new people, not to mention that former oBlogger, Dave McClure, is a program co-chair.

It’s always nice when someone describes your company as “leading the next wave of innovation.” That’s especially true coming from Red Herring.

Here’s the quote:

Award Recognizes the 100 “Most Promising” Companies Driving the Future of Technology

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (April 4, 2007) — Red Herring today announced that oDesk (www.oDesk.com) is a Finalist for the Red Herring 100 Award, a selection of the 100 private companies based in North America that play a leading role in innovation and technology.

The Red Herring editorial board diligently surveyed the entrepreneurial scene throughout the North American region and identified the top 200 out of more than 800 closely evaluated companies that are leading the next wave of innovation.

We have great company, too.