Swipe Club: What Are the Best Crypto Credit Cards?

For many alternative investors, cash and crypto go hand in hand. Cryptocurrencies may still be speculative investments, but they've always been used as a medium exchange in some capacity. While metaverse economies are flourishing, their real-life use as currencies has been limited.

Although most merchants don't accept crypto as a form of payment, the best crypto debit cards make buying stuff with crypto as easy as paying with fiat currency. There are also crypto credit cards that reward you in crypto for making purchases.

Comparing the top crypto debit and credit cards is the best way to figure out which one is right for you.

Crypto credit cards are just like regular credit cards, except instead of earning airline miles, points, or cash back, you're rewarded in crypto. This means that you can receive a percentage of every purchase back in crypto, but reward rates differ significantly between credit cards. Although most crypto cards reward you in Bitcoin by default, they usually let you choose which crypto asset to earn. They're great for passively racking up crypto rewards on purchases you would make anyway.

Gemini

• Annual fee: $0
• Reward rates: 1% to 3%
• Reward assets: BTC, ETH, LTC, USDC, DAI, and more

Another great crypto credit card option is the one offered by the Gemini crypto exchange. The Gemini Credit Card earns you 1% back on all purchases, up to 2% back on groceries, and 3% back on dining. Your rewards are denominated in your crypto of choice with dozens of assets to choose from, like ApeCoin (APE) and Decentraland (MANA). The best part is that there's no waiting to redeem your rewards since they're deposited into your Gemini account automatically after each transaction posts.

Nexo

• Annual fee: $0
• Reward rates: 0.5% to 2%
• Reward assets: BTC or NEXO

The Nexo crypto exchange offers a payment card that's unique because it's something between a debit card and a credit card. The Nexo card lets you make purchases with a credit line issued against your crypto. This means there's no credit check needed to sign up for the Nexo card since you must use your crypto assets as collateral to get a credit line for making purchases. Buying stuff with this card will earn you up to 2% in NEXO or 0.5% in BTC.

One aspect of the Nexo card that sets it apart is that there's no minimum balance to repay at the end of the month and no interest charges for carrying a balance. Another thing that makes it different is that, unlike cash advances on credit cards, the Nexo card rewards you for withdrawing cash from an ATM just like you would get by making purchases. The major downside of the Nexo card is that you must allocate a certain percentage of your portfolio to NEXO tokens to earn the highest rewards and get the maximum number of free crypto withdrawals.

SoFi

• Annual fee: $0
• Reward rates: 2% to 3%
• Reward assets: BTC, ETH, LTC, MATIC, ADA, and more

The SoFi credit card is another one you can use to get rewarded for your purchases in different investment assets. SoFi's card gives you 2% cash back you can redeem as crypto, stocks, or cash deposited into your SoFi checking or savings account. While SoFi offers a competitive reward rate for purchases made with their credit card, there's a catch: you can't withdraw your crypto rewards to an external wallet. This means any crypto you redeem with points earned using the SoFi credit card can only be sold or held on the SoFi platform.

Credit cards aren't for everybody since eligibility may depend on where you live as well as your credit score. Those of us who can't get a credit card—or simply don't want one—may find that crypto debit cards are a great alternative. Most regular debit cards don't offer cash-back rewards on purchases the same way credit cards do, but that's changing with crypto-enabled debit cards. Crypto payment cards are a great way to buy ETH and other cryptos, make purchases with them, and spend them without having to convert your assets to fiat.

Coinbase

• Annual fee: $0
• Reward rates: 0.5% to 1%
• Reward assets: BTC, ETH, MATIC, XLM, USDC

One of the best debit cards for earning crypto rewards is the one offered by the Coinbase crypto exchange. The Coinbase visa debit card is one of the top ways to spend crypto while earning crypto on purchases. This card allows you to make purchases with any asset in your Coinbase account, including cash, crypto, and stablecoins. Every purchase you make with crypto using your Coinbase card automatically sells the corresponding value of the asset you want to spend, like a built-in fiat off-ramp for each time you buy something. 

This makes buying stuff with crypto super easy, but not exactly hassle-free due to possible tax implications.

Maximizing rewards using the Coinbase debit card takes a little more effort than other cards because the reward rates and assets on offer rotate every month. While you can earn up to 4% back on purchases, this rate varies over time depending on which cryptocurrency you want to earn. So though you might get a higher percent back on purchases with this card, it might not be denominated in the asset you want. Luckily you can just swap your crypto reward for another asset through the Coinbase exchange or using one of Coinbase's DeFi products.

Crypto.com

• Annual fee: $0 
• Reward rates: 0% to 5%
• Reward assets: CRO

Despite having significantly lowered their reward rates, Crypto.com debit cards are still some of the best crypto debit cards on the market. Crypto.com divides its debit cards into five tiers, but only four of them offer rewards. Those are Ruby Steel; Royal Indigo or Jade Green; Icy White or Frosted Rose Gold; And Obsidian. While anyone can sign up for these debit cards, you must stake Cronos (CRO) on the Crypto.com exchange to get the best crypto reward rate.

Crypto.com debit cards are great if you already hold CRO because you can earn up to 12% annually on CRO by staking it on Crypto.com while earning up to 5% on debit card purchases. All purchases made with Crypto.com cards are settled in CRO, but you must stake at least $400,000 in CRO to earn the highest reward rate and get benefits like reimbursements on streaming service subscriptions. While some of these benefits are offered to the lower card tiers, a monthly cap on rewards plus a CRO staking requirement ranging from $400 to $40,000 may make them less appealing.

Comparing the best crypto payment cards

Do all crypto credit cards use points?

No, some crypto credit cards issue their rewards in points while others denominate rewards in U.S. dollars. If your crypto rewards are denominated in U.S. dollars, then you'll receive the dollar value of your crypto rewards based on the market price at the time of redemption. For crypto rewards denominated in points, then the dollar value of each point will be converted into crypto at the time of redemption. For example, each BlockFi reward point equals $0.01, so you will receive one cent in crypto for every point you have on the day they are redeemed.

When are my crypto credit card rewards redeemed?

Depending on the credit card, the time of redemption will vary from as soon as the transaction posts to over a week after receiving your monthly credit card statement. Once you've redeemed your crypto rewards, it can take even longer to withdraw the assets to an external wallet, but only if the company issuing the card permits you to do so. For example, you can withdraw your crypto rewards from BlockFi to your DeFi wallet, but you'll have to wait for BlockFi to whitelist your address, approve the transfer, and carry out the transaction on the blockchain. Meanwhile, platforms like Gemini and Coinbase let you withdraw your crypto rewards as soon as your transaction posts, but SoFi doesn't let you withdraw crypto from their platform at all. It helps to use a crypto tracking app that notifies you when your rewards are deposited. 

Can I convert my crypto credit card rewards?

Most crypto credit cards have an option to swap between cryptos or sell them for fiat currency or other assets. Crypto cards that are owned by crypto exchanges like Coinbase, Gemini, and BlockFi let you use their platform to buy, sell and swap cryptos, including what you receive as credit card rewards. Your options are more limited if your crypto credit card isn't partnered with an exchange, but you can usually sell your crypto rewards for cash regardless of the platform.

Do crypto credit cards have intro offers?

Yes, some crypto credit cards have intro offers such as higher reward rates for a limited promotional period. Credit card intro offers vary greatly and are subject to change at any time, so eligibility will depend mostly on when you've submitted your crypto credit card application.