Crypto.com is a prominent cryptocurrency exchange that supports trading, investing, staking, NFTs, wallets, and more. Users can buy, sell, and trade more than 60 different virtual currencies and enjoy relatively low trading fees. Apart from offering a decentralized exchange, an NFT marketplace, and a standalone crypto wallet, Crypto.com also offers a Visa prepaid debit card. It allows you to spend your tokens and in turn receive up to 1 to 8 percent back in crypto rewards. Even though this card encompasses a lot of features, should you use it? Here’s our in-depth Crypto.com card review.
Comprehensive Crypto.com Card Review
Claimed by Crypto.com as the most widely accepted card, the Rewards Visa users can conveniently use funds and receive various perks. Crypto.com cleverly avoids market fluctuations by converting the chosen coin to USD on the real-time market value and then loading the value to the Rewards Visa card. Hence, it can be used like any other debit card for daily payments.
It functions on the Visa processing network and is thus accepted by all retailers that accept Visa as payment, i.e, millions of retailers worldwide. It is ideal for crypto investors who are interested in high rewards and a variety of perks.
Crypto.com Visa Card Review: How Does The Card Work?
The Crypto.com Visa Card is a debit card that can be prepaid by putting funds onto the card using the Crypto.com application. It may be topped up with either crypto or traditional currency. If you want to add fiat money into your Crypto.com account, you may do so with funds you’ve previously placed or by paying with a debit or credit card.
The Crypto.com card is based on the Visa processing network. It is accepted by any businesses that accept Visa as a form of payment, which means it may be used across the world.
There are five card tiers to choose from
- Midnight Blue
- Ruby Steel
- Royal Indigo and Jade Green
- Frosted Rose Gold and Icy White
- Obsidian
How can you decide which card will be the best choice for you? You must stake a set quantity of Crypto.com Coin (CRO), the platform’s cryptocurrency, for 180 days in order to achieve a certain tier.
Note: Staking is the process of committing your CRO to the Crypto.com platform for a set length of time. You’ll get CRO incentives and increased debit card rewards in exchange.
Now let’s take a look at our Crypto.com Visa card review
Crypto.com Visa Card Review: Card Tiers & Features
A Crypto.com Visa card allows you to spend your cryptocurrency, making it a perfect alternative for carrying out payments via cryptocurrency. You may get paid in crypto, put your money in an interest yielding account, and even acquire a crypto loan in some countries.
As mentioned above, Crypto.com offers five different types of cards that offer a plethora of features and benefits. Let’s take a look at the rewards offered by each of these cards:
| Crypto.com Visa Card | Staking (CRO) | Rewards (CRO) |
|---|---|---|
| Midnight Blue | $0 | 1% |
| Ruby Steel | $400 | 2% |
| Royal Indigo and Jade Green | $4,000 | 3% |
| Frosted Rose Gold and Icy White | $40,000 | 5% |
| Obsidian | $400,000 | 8% |
When you apply for a Crypto.com card, you can pick a card type and stake any amount from $0 to $400,000 to get the rewards of that respective tier.
Suppose you’re interested in getting a Royal Indigo Crypto.com Visa card. Crypto.com will verify that you have a minimum of $4,000 in CRO in your account. You’ll need to stake the needed CRO once your card is ready to ship.
Here are some of the additional benefits that each of these cards has to offer:
Midnight Blue Crypto.com Visa Card
- Free alternative (no staking required)
- Earn upto 1% CRO rewards on purchases via card
- ATM allowance is $200
- Made of plastic
Ruby Steel Crypto.com Visa Card
- 4th tier card.
- Staking of $400 required
- Spotify subscription gets reimbursed monthly
- Earn upto 2% CRO rewards on purchases via card
- ATM free allowance $500 per month
Royal Indigo and Jade Green Crypto.com Visa Card
- 3rd tier cards
- Staking of $4,000 is required
- Unlimited LoungeKey airport lounge access
- Earn upto 3% CRO rewards on purchases via card
- Spotify and Netflix subscription gets reimbursed monthly
- ATM free allowance $800 per month
Frosted Rose Gold and Icy White Crypto.com Visa Card
- 2nd tier cards
- Staking of $40,000 is required
- Unlimited LoungeKey airport lounge access
- Spotify, Expedia, Netflix, and Amazon Prime subscription gets reimbursed monthly
- Earn upto 5% CRO rewards on purchases via card
- Exclusive merchandise welcome pack
- ATM free allowance $1,000 per month
Obsidian Crypto.com Visa Card
- Top tier and most exclusive card
- Huge staking of $400,000 is required
- Unlimited LoungeKey airport lounge access
- Earn upto 8% CRO rewards on purchases via card
- Spotify, Netflix, Airbnb, Expedia and Amazon Prime subscription gets reimbursed monthly
- Private jet benefits
- Exclusive merchandise welcome pack
- ATM free allowance $1,000 per month
Crypto.com Visa Card Review: Pros
- Zero yearly charge
- No need to pull your credit report
- No ATM fees
- Immediate access and processing of payments
- About 8% cashback
- Rewards and other perks
Crypto.com Visa Card Review: Cons
- Many MCCs excluded from CRO rewards
- Low tier cards have limitations on ATM withdrawals
- High tier cards have high staking levels
Crypto.com Card Review
Along with offering the features of a prepaid debit card, the crypto.com card also offers the following benefits:
Earning Rewards
Members with the Crypto.com Rewards Visa card can receive cashback in the form of CRO Rewards, which can be exchanged for other digital coins or fiat cash on the crypto.com platform itself.
Each level of card is determined by your staking limits–the more money you stake, the more bonuses and privileges you will receive.
For example, the second-highest tier card, Frosted Rose Gold and Icy White offers up to 5% CRO, and Obsidian, the top tier card, offers 8% CRO.
You Can Spend Your Crypto
Spending your crypto is super easy with Crypto.com Rewards Visa Card. Add funds to your card from the crypto wallet of your account and you are ready to go.
Note: Generally, holding your crypto investments is better in the long run and hence, we recommend not spending your coins as you can miss the chance of earning long-term potential gains. But, for the occasional spending of your crypto, this card is among the best.
Versatile Crypto Rewards
Earning CRO tokens as a reward on a purchase are the default setting of the card. Let’s say you bought something worth $200, you’d get $6 worth of CRO. After that, you can either swap the token for other tokens or fiat currency. It’s this flexibility on the card’s rewards that sets it apart from the crowd.
Fees
Certain prepaid debit cards will charge a maintenance fee either annually or monthly. The Crypto.com Visa Card, however, doesn’t. So you can get a card of your choice, among the five types of cards that Crypto.com offers, without adding to your bills.
Airport Lounge Access
Want to gain unrestricted admission to airport lounges? Owing the following Crypto.com cards can allow you to take advantage of airport lounges:
- Royal Indigo and Jade Green
- Frosted Rose Gold and Icy White (including access for an added guest)
- Obsidian (also including access for an added guest)
This feature is supported by LoungeKey which has a wide network of 1,000+ airport lounges.
Subscriptions
Tired of paying $12.99 for your Amazon Prime and Spotify and $13.99 for Netflix every month? Let your Crypto.com card do it for you.
Crypto.com cards from the 4th-tier card to the top-tier offer reimbursement of your Spotify, Amazon Prime, and Netflix subscriptions on a monthly basis.
ATM Withdrawal
Free ATM withdrawals are included in all of the Crypto.com Visa Cards with monthly limitations that vary per card tier:
- $200 for Midnight Blue
- $400 for Ruby Steel
- $800 for Royal Indigo and Jade Green
- $1,000 for Icy White and Frosted Rose Gold
- $1,000 for Obsidian
- There is a 2% charge for further withdrawals
Added Credits
Monthly spending credits for Expedia and Airbnb bookings are available on higher card tiers (2nd and 1st tier). Expedia and Airbnb credit amounts are 10% of each transaction, with a monthly limit of $50 and $100 for Expedia and Airbnb respectively.
What Needs to be Improved?
Crypto.com Rewards Visa Card is definitely among the best, but it still has some room for improvement.
Requires Staking
You need to stake CRO to unlock most of the benefits from this card and therefore the first tier Midnight Blue doesn’t offer many benefits. The better starting point is a Ruby Steel card with a $400 worth CRO stake.
Not only that, you have to stake it for six months and if you unstake it, you lose all the benefits. If you can stake CRO and understand price fluctuations, it shouldn’t be an issue.
Zero Sign-up Bonus
Most well-known credit cards offer a sign-up bonus that comes in the form of points or cashback. Some cards offer from $200 to $500 in sign-up bonuses. This is one of the frontiers where Crypto.com Visa card lacks and doesn’t offer any such offers.
Limitations on Rewards
Even though this card is accepted by millions of retailers, the card’s reward program excludes merchants such as
- Novelty and souvenir shops
- Insurance policies
- Software programs
- Utilities
Excluding certain types of transactions is normal for certain cards but Crypto.com disallows more of them causing frustration if your several purchases don’t count.
Transaction Limits
The card has withdrawal and spending limits, which could be found under the “Fees and Limits” segment on the app. For instance, the basic Midnight Blue tier card has a $10,000 purchase limit a day and a $15,000 limit per month with a maximum balance of $25,000.
Prepaid Card
This prepaid debit card has two main disadvantages when compared to traditional credit cards:
- Prepaid cards don’t help you build a credit score. A good payment habit can build a good credit score.
- Whenever you want to pay for a product or service, you need to have a lot of funds on your prepaid debit card. You can buy first and pay later when you use a credit card
Prepaid cards have their benefits such as you won’t get into debt in the first place, however, a credit card offers convenience as you don’t have to load money first.
Upgrade and Replacement Fees
The exchange has the following charges in place:
- $7 for a stolen or lost card
- $50 for upgrading your card
Prepaid cards have the above-mentioned charges and therefore credit cards rule the roost. Most credit card companies will send a new card to you for free if it is stolen, lost, or if you want to upgrade it.
Credit Score
Since it is a prepaid card, the exchange doesn’t verify your credit score when you apply for the card. If you want to register for the card, you have to download the exchange’s app and finish the entire KYC process which is a general requirement of top crypto exchanges.
Final Verdict Crypto.com Card Review: Is The Crypto.com Card A Must-Have?
If you are an avid crypto investor and willing to stake $400 worth of CRO for the duration of having the card, this is the best fit for you.
It might also be a terrific alternative for rising cryptocurrency fanatics seeking a means to conveniently access their digital assets for expenditures. It is a comprehensive rewards program that gives high returns rates even though the staking requirement is high for the upper-tier cards. The added bonuses, particularly the monthly subscription credits, might help you save money as well.
All in all, considering the plethora of benefits that a Crypto.com card provides the high staking requirements are worth it!
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