Crypto.com Visa Card Review

Best Crypto Card?

The Crypto.com Visa Debit card is a unique offering in the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency credit card card space due to the use of the company’s very own crypto token. The CRO token is Crypto.com’s own proprietary offering (also known as Cronos), and it is can be used by card holders to gain access to better rewards on one of the five tiers of cards available on the platform.

Staking CRO allows users to gain access to added bonuses such as up to 5% cashback on all purchases and 100% cashback on common purchases like Netflix and Spotify subscriptions. While the rewards with CRO are quite remarkable, the fact that users must hold a niche cryptocurrency to gain access to those rewards must also be considered.

Pros & Cons

Pros

Available at 40 million point-of-sale locations around the world
Discounts on cash withdrawals from ATMs
Get up to 5% cashback on all purchases
Five different card tiers available
Get 100% cashback on common subscriptions like Netflix and Spotify

Cons

CRO must be staked to gain access to the best rewards
Cashback rewards are denominated in CRO
There is a $50 fee if you close your account without spending all funds
Earning the best rewards requires a massive stake of CRO

Best for Rewards

Highlights

No annual fees
Get up to 5% back on spending

Crypto.com Visa Card at a Glance

Airport lounge access: Unlimited lounge access with Loungekey, which includes access to more than 1,100 lounges located at over 500 airports (Jade/Indigo and higher cards only).
Earn up to 5% cash back at retailers. (Only Obsidian earns up to 5%. Lower-tier cards earn less).
Receive a 100% reimbursement each month on select subscription services such as Amazon Prime, Netflix and Spotify depending on the tier of card you hold.
Earn 10% back, up to $100, in monthly Airbnb reimbursement credit for top-tier Obsidian and second-tier Frosted Rose Gold and Icy White cardholders.
Earn 10% back, up to $50 each month in Expedia reimbursement credit for top-tier Obsidian cardholders only.
Fee-free ATM withdrawals up to a certain amount each month, also tiered.
Earn bonus rewards when linking your card to Dosh and shopping at eligible merchants.

Crypto.com Rewards Visa Rewards

Earning Rewards

The Crypto.com Visa Card* allows cardmembers to earn cash back in the form of CRO Rewards. CRO rewards are Crypto.com’s cryptocurrency token, which can be traded on crypto.com’s platform into other digital coins or even into fiat currency.

Crypto.com’s Visa card is actually a series of cards. Each card level is dependent on how much you stake—the more you stake, the more benefits and perks you can unlock. The highest card, Obsidian, for example, offers up to 5% CRO back on most purchases.

Unfortunately, the amount you need to put up makes the highest card irrelevant to all but the most devoted of crypto enthusiasts. In effect, the two highest levels are out of reach for most, which makes the advertised rate of “up to 5%” somewhat misleading.

Staking

Unlike other traditional credit and debit cards, the Crypto.com card requires you to “stake” funds. “Staking” is more or less locking in your funds for a specified amount of time with the specific platform. In the case of the Crypto.com card, that would be Crypto.com and its CRO token. CRO token values vary according to the crypto market and are in the $0.13 to $0.14 range as of August 2022. Essentially, users are giving the card issuer a loan with their cryptocurrencies and in return, crypto.com offers an array of benefits.

The staking requirement for the Crypto.com Visa Card* is fixed in U.S. dollars instead of CRO.

Staked funds must be held for six months. Once a cardmember unstakes their CRO, the benefits of each tier will be reduced. To keep rewards and benefits, users can keep CRO staking beyond the initial six-month staking period.