A crypto card works similarly to a debit or credit card. It can be used to pay for goods or services, wherever the card provider is accepted.
Generally, crypto cards are associated with personal credit cards.
Indeed, although it might seem like you are paying a vendor directly with digital currencies, this is not exactly what happens: the vendor receives money in their account and not in cryptocurrency.
The crypto card takes cryptocurrency from one’s personal account, converts it to the local currency in which one is paying and then uses these funds to pay.
Thus, crypto credit cards work like standard credit cards but spend cryptocurrency.
Generally, both Visa and MasterCard offer crypto cards to partner companies that require a license.
These two are the most popular payment service providers in the world, making crypto cards almost universally accepted by all retailers.
In detail: Eidoo, Binance, Crypto.com and Monolith
The crypto cards listed above certainly fall within the best crypto cards associated with credit cards with which to spend one’s cryptocurrencies.
In more detail, Eidoo, the multi-currency wallet, which is a cryptocurrency wallet, offers the possibility for users to have their own Eidoo Card.
How does the Eidoo Card work
The operation of Eidoo Card is quite simple. Each person, through their Eidoo wallet, can order the Eidoo Card, which will be linked directly to their account.
Therefore, one can easily send crypto such as USDT to the wallet associated with the card directly from the app to start spending cryptocurrencies right away.
The Eidoo Card is powered by the global VISA network, meaning that users can spend their crypto at more than 46 million stores worldwide.
It also avoids the hassle of interacting with centralized exchanges or bank transfers to use crypto anywhere and in real time.
Since it is a decentralized wallet, until payment is made, cryptocurrencies never leave the wallet.
Eidoo Cards are available to all EU and UK users who have successfully passed Level 2 Know-Your-Customer verification.
Eidoo Card offers three types of accounts; Basic, VIP, and Black. To order the Basic card, Eidoo Wallet users are required to burn some tokens.
For the VIP and Black card, users must stake a certain amount of PNT, which means blocking tokens as collateral.
Each account also has its own exclusive benefits and cashback program, which allows cardholders to earn up to 5% of the total purchase amount for each transaction made.
In addition, all tokens earned through cashback are always unlocked, so they can be withdrawn at any time.
How does the Binance Card work
The operation of the Binance Card is quite similar to that of the Eidoo Card.
Indeed, the Binance Card also makes it possible to convert cryptocurrencies into the EUR currency in real time when making the transaction and is also associated with the VISA logo.
Hence, there is the possibility of storing and exchanging crypto only when the need arises. In the meantime, the cryptocurrencies will be stored in one’s Binance funding wallet and will only be exchanged at the time of payment.
In addition, you can also spend EUR directly from your Funding Wallet. The great advantage of this card, is that you can earn up to 8% in BNB cashback every time you make an eligible purchase.
In fact, all cashback from eligible purchases is automatically deposited into your Financing Wallet, so your only concern will be spending crypto.
Another added value of the Binance Card is that it has the lowest fees on the market.
Withdrawal is free via ATM and there is no foreign exchange fee and no annual fee.
Binance also pays close attention to the security of its users. In fact, all funds are, as they say, SAFU. This means that both funds and transactions made with Binance Card are protected by Binance’s world-class security.
Just as with Eidoo Card, Binance Card is also usable at more than 60 million establishments worldwide.
How does the Crypto.com VISA Card work
To obtain the Crypto.com VISA card, each user must possess and stake their CRO for a period of 180 days for both the virtual and physical one.
This applies to all except the card related to the basic plan.
All Visa Crypto.com cards offer CRO rewards and many other beneficial features to allow Crypto.com App users to save a lot of money.
Indeed, Crypto.com provides holders of the CRO token the following: no monthly or annual fees and no upfront costs.
The benefits of owning a Crypto.com Visa card are many, including new rewards designed to meet the needs of consumers who are always on the go. In addition to the cards’ existing travel benefits, which include free and unlimited access to LoungeKey airport lounges, interchange rates, and no foreign fees, new ones have been introduced.
In fact, some Visa Crypto.com cards allow a 10% discount for every booking made on Expedia (equivalent to $50) or Airbnb (equivalent to $100). Or, a 100% discount for the basic Spotify subscription plan (equivalent to 13.99 USD).
Still, there are 100% discounts for the Netflix subscription plan (equivalent to $13.99) and up to 5% cash back on any purchase, local or abroad, with no minimum or maximum spend required.
The Visa Crypto.com card can also be used at more than 40 million points of sale (POS) worldwide and countless online retail stores. In addition, it is possible to withdraw cash from almost any automated teller machine (ATM) worldwide that bears the VISA or VISA Plus logo.
How the VISA Monolith card works
Last but not least is the Visa Monolith card, which differs most from the others listed above. In fact, the Visa Monolith card is a specialized cryptographic debit card with a focus on the Ethereum ecosystem.
Just like other popular crypto debit cards, the Monolith Visa card comes with its own proprietary token, known as the Monolith Token (TKN). While other Bitcoin debit cards force their users to hold a proprietary token to access better benefits and rewards, this is not the case with the Monolith Visa card.
With Monolith, the token is used to pay some of the fees associated with the Monolith app. Although this prepaid crypto card does not have the benefits of some of the other cards on the market, it could be a great option for those who want to stay within the Ethereum ecosystem.
The company behind Monolith is registered in England and Wales, and its crypto debit card offering is currently available in Europe and the United Kingdom. Although, currently, the Monolith Visa card is only available in 31 countries in Europe and the UK.
It is important to note that there are no outright benefits of cashback rewards to consider when it comes to the Monolith Visa card.
Nevertheless, this is not a limitation because although Monolith has its own token in the form of a TKN, it does not force users to use its services. In fact, outside of traditional cashback rewards, there are other advantages to using the Monolith Visa card.
For example, there are no fees associated with transferring between different tokens. Users can access the market rate available on a variety of decentralized exchange platforms. More importantly, Monolith does not require its users to hand over custody of their cryptographic assets to a third-party custodian.
In fact, users can retain control over their private keys while the funds are held in the Monolith app
The only major obstacle, at least momentarily, of the Monolith Visa card is the lack of support for Bitcoin. Bitcoin is by far the most popular cryptocurrency in the world, so anyone primarily interested in spending their Bitcoin for now should look elsewhere.
However, it is worth noting that Bitcoin-pegged Ethereum tokens began to gain some popularity in 2020, so Monolith may eventually decide to support one of these tokens.
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