An argument that people often come up with when it comes to why crypto will never really get big is that it is difficult to pay with it.
However, there is a solution for this: crypto credit cards. These are payment cards that major crypto parties, often exchanges, issue in collaboration with traditional payment systems, such as Visa or Mastercard. These cards make it possible to pay with your crypto anywhere you want. In addition, they often also bring great benefits, such as cashback.
But what exactly are these crypto credit cards? Why would I want one? And what are the best crypto credit cards currently available?
Why a crypto credit card? #
The first question you probably have is: why would I want a crypto credit card? My normal credit or debit card works fine, doesn’t it? However, there are two reasons why crypto cards are in high demand: (1) you don’t have to cash out your crypto and (2) the cards often bring many benefits.
The first reason is that you do not have to cash out your crypto. Many people do not like to cash out their crypto, because this involves long waiting times, extra costs, or because it is simply quite difficult. Investors often like to leave their money in crypto and find it ideal if they could pay directly with it.
The second reason is that the cards often come with many advantages. For example, you can receive cashback on all your transactions. Suppose you have 3% cashback, and you spend $100, it will actually only cost you $97. Now you may think: that $3 is not worth it to me. But if you get it on all your expenses, it still adds up to a nice amount. Other common benefits include free subscriptions to Spotify or Netflix, or exclusive access to airport lounges.
Binance Card #
Binance, currently the largest crypto exchange in the world, has its own crypto credit card. This card was released in collaboration with VISA and has been available in Europe since September 2020. Since the card was released in collaboration with VISA, it can actually be used almost anywhere.
The first advantage that the Binance Card brings, like all other cards in this list, is that the card makes it possible to pay with your crypto. In this way you do not have to sell your crypto, but you can simply leave it on your balance. Then when you use it to pay for something, Binance automatically arranges the payment, just like it would work with any other payment card.
However, that is not the only advantage that the Binance Card brings. This also offers you the option of receiving cashbacks on your payments. How big this cashback is for you depends on what level your card is. The level of your card depends on how much Binance Coin (BNB) you have in your account on average over the past month. This average is calculated by taking, on any given day, the past 29 days and calculating the average BNB holdings. There are 7 levels, which these are, and what your cashback is per level, you can see in the table below:
| Binance Card level | Monthly average | Cashback percentage |
| 1 | 0 BNB | 0,1% |
| 2 | 1 BNB | 2% |
| 3 | 10 BNB | 3% |
| 4 | 40 BNB | 4% |
| 5 | 100 BNB | 5% |
| 6 | 250 BNB | 6% |
| 7 | 600 BNB | 8% |
It is important to note that the payment card charges up to 0.9% transaction costs per transaction. Applying for your first Binance Card is completely free, if you have an account with Binance. If you subsequently lose this card, or for any other reason would like a new one, this costs $25 each time. Furthermore, there are no costs associated with owning a Binance Card.
Crypto.com Card #
Crypto.com also has an interesting crypto card system. They work with 5 different cards: the Midnight Blue Card, the Ruby Steel Card, the Royal Indigo & Jade Green Card, the Frosted Rose Gold & Icy White Card and the Obsidian Card. Which card you have depends on the amount of Cronos (CRO), the coin of Crypto.com, you stake. If you stake €0 you can get the Midnight Blue Card, if you stake $350 you can get the Ruby Steel Card, if you stake $3,500 you can get the Royal Indigo & Jade Green Card, if you stake $35,000 you can get the Get Frosted Rose Gold & Icy White Card and if you stake $350,000 you can get the Obsidian Card.
Of course, each card comes with its own benefits. As with the Binance Card, all Crypto.com Cards, except for the Midnight Blue Card, also receive cashback on all expenses. So, with the Midnight Blue Card this is 0%, with the Ruby Steel Card 1%, with the Royal Indigo & Jade Green Card 2%, with the Frosted Rose Gold & Icy White Card 3% and with the Obsidian Card 5%.
In addition to this cashback advantage, there are also many other nice advantages with the Crypto.com cards. Think of free Spotify, free Netflix and access to exclusive airport lounges. You can see exactly what these benefits are, and to which cards they belong and which cards they do not belong, in the table below:
Obsidian | Rose Gold & Icy White | Royal Indigo & Jade Green | Ruby Steel | Midnight Blue |
| Spotify (refund) | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | |
| Netflix (refund) | 100% | 100% | 100% | | |
| Amazon Prime (refund) | 100% | 100% | | | |
| Expedia (refund, 1x per month) | 10% | 10% | | | |
| AirBNB (refund, 1x per month) | 10% | | | | |
| Airport Lounge Access | X (+1 guest) | X (+1 guest) | X | | |
| Crypto.com Private | X | X | | | |
| Bonus Rewards | X | X | | | |
| Exclusive Welcome Pack | X | X | | | |
| Private Jet Partnership | X | | | | |
You can apply for a Crypto.com Card for free. All you have to do is put the amount required for the card you want into CRO. You must then lock this amount in the stake for at least 180 days. Furthermore, there are no costs involved in owning the Crypto.com card.
Nexo Card #
Crypto exchange Nexo also has its own crypto credit card. The exchange is less popular than, for example, Binance or Crypto.com, but the Nexo Card is very popular. Nexo, like Binance, only has one card, so it doesn’t work with an extensive tier system, like Crypto.com does. The Nexo Card was released in collaboration with Mastercard.
Nexo also offers a cashback system with their crypto credit card. This works differently than with both Binance and Crypto.com. At Nexo you can choose to receive the cashback in Bitcoin (BTC) or Nexo (NEXO). When you choose to be paid in BTC, you get 0.5% cashback per payment or bank withdrawal, and when you choose to be paid in NEXO, you get 2% cashback.
Unlike the Binance Card and the Crypto.com Cards, the Nexo Card is also a real credit card. That means you can spend up to a certain limit per month and then have to pay it back at the end of the month. You can also choose to repay this later, but interest will come into play. With Nexo, this interest differs between 0% and 13.9%, where with a traditional credit card it is often between 18% and 26%, as can be seen on the Nexo website.
You can request the Nexo Card for free, because this is a digital card. You can request the card by downloading the Nexo app and then clicking on ‘Activate Card’ under the ‘Card’ tab. You can then click on ‘Add to Wallet’ to add it to your Apple Pay or Google Pay, depending on whether you are using iOS or Android.
Gemini Card #
Gemini, the crypto exchange of the Winklevoss brothers, also has its own crypto payment card. This crypto card, just like that of Nexo, is a real credit card and this one was also released in collaboration with Mastercard. Gemini also only has 1 card, but you can choose from 3 different colors, namely Black, Silver and Rose.
Like all other cards in this list, you can also receive cashback on your purchases with the Gemini Card. The maximum cashback you can receive with the Gemini Card is 3%. This 3% cashback applies in restaurants. In addition, you can receive 2% cashback on groceries and 1% on all other purchases. You will receive this cashback in cryptocurrency and you can choose from more than 60 different coins or tokens. Which one you choose has no influence on the amount of cashback you receive.
Owning a Gemini Card is free, but there are a number of costs involved in using it. For example, you pay 3.49% transaction costs per transaction, and on top of that there is a small amount for converting the crypto to euros or dollars, which Gemini automatically does for you. What this amount is exactly depends on which cryptocurrency you use to pay.
What is the best crypto credit card? #
The big question is of course: which crypto credit card is the best? That is a very difficult question. This is really one of those cases that completely depends on your preferences, but also certainly on your budget. What do you think is important? A high cash back? Extra benefits with, for example, subscriptions? Low transaction costs? What is the best card for you depends entirely on what is important to you.
For example, do you think it is important that you get the maximum cashback? Then you might opt for the Crypto.com Obsidian Card, provided you have the budget to stake $350,000. This will not be possible for most people. Assuming you don’t want to put in a certain amount to get a payment card at all, the highest cashback for a ‘free’ card can be found with the Gemini Card. Would you like to receive extra benefits, in addition to a cashback? Then you can choose one of the cards from Crypto.com. However, it is again required that you deposit a certain amount to strike.
So, which crypto card is best for you, depends entirely on your preferences, wishes and budget.
Conclusión #
In this article we looked at crypto credit cards. We looked at the different popular options, what the advantages are per well-known crypto credit card and compared them with each other. For example, you have the cards from Crypto.com, which bring many interesting advantages, but are also expensive to ‘purchase’. Or Binance’s card, which also has several nice perks. We also looked at the Nexo Card and the Gemini Card.
Hopefully through this blog you have learned more about the different options you have when it comes to crypto credit cards. You may be able to make a choice on the basis of this blog about which crypto card suits you best.
