Bitcoin Debit Cards Reviewed and Compared
By: Ofir Beigel | Last updated: 5/2/21
This post will cover the most popular active Bitcoin debit cards around, meaning debit cards that can be loaded with Bitcoins.
Bitcoin Debit Card Summary
Using your Bitcoin debit card you can pay at any store that accepts regular debit bank cards, while the charge is deducted from your Bitcoin balance (usually plus a fee, of course).
With a recent push from both Visa and Mastercard to embrace cryptocurrency companies, there is a growing number of options to choose from. From the current selection, EU residents are probably best off using the Coinbase Card (which can be ordered within Coinbase mobile app).
In case you’re in the EU and Coinbase doesn’t support your country you can try Wirex instead. US residents may want to go with BitPay, however the Coinbase Card will also be a good option once it is released in 2021.
If you want a detailed review about each card keep on reading. Here’s what I’ll cover:
- What are Bitcoin debit cards?
- Best Bitcoin Debit Cards
- New and Untested Bitcoin Debit Cards
- Inactive Debit Cards
- Conclusion – Which Card Should You Choose?
1. Does Bitcoin Have a Debit Card?
No, it doesn’t. Bitcoin isn’t controlled by any single centralized party, so it can’t issue its own debit card. However, you can get a 3rd party prepaid debit card which you can load with Bitcoin and then buy almost anything.
While not many businesses accept payments in Bitcoin (yet), most accept debit cards. With a Bitcoin debit card, merchants get paid in their own currency while you are charged in Bitcoin from your prepaid balance.
Keep in mind there are downsides. First, when using a Bitcoin debit card, you’re basically giving someone else control over your coins (at least the ones you’ve deposited).
Second, this service usually comes with a price. Every payment you make will often involve both processing fees as well as conversion fees for paying with a foreign currency.
2. Best (working) Bitcoin Debit Cards
Despite many crypto debit card issuers having their services suspended in 2018 by Visa, the payments sector has become more crypto-friendly again as of 2020. Both Visa and Mastercard have now started initiatives to work with crypto companies, allowing more firms to issue their own crypto-funded debit cards.
Here’s a look at some of the best active Bitcoin debit cards available today:
Coinbase Bitcoin Debit Card
Pros: Multiple coins supported, established company, widely available
Cons: High chargeback fees
Coinbase, one of the leading Bitcoin exchanges around, issues its own Visa debit card for the UK, broader Europe, and is currently accepting a waitlist for the US.
The card is linked to your Coinbase account and allows you to easily spend crypto held on Coinbase anywhere Visa is accepted.
Choosing which cryptocurrency you’re spending can be managed through the Coinbase app, which is available both on Android and iOS. The card also offers multiple security features such as 2 factor authentication, instant freeze and more.
There’s a £4.95 or €4.95 fee for issuing the card, and ATM fees are 1%/2% (domestic/international). The complete fee schedule for the UK and Europe can be viewed here, whereas the fee schedule for US cards is yet to be released.
Here’s how to get your Coinbase card:
- Sign up to Coinbase
- Download the Coinbase mobile app
- Order the card from the app
Wirex Bitcoin Debit Card
Pros: Multiple coins supported, established company
Cons: Limited availability outside of the EEA/Asia-Pacific region
Wirex, previously known as E-coin, rebranded in 2016. The company supplies a Chip & Pin visa debit card that can be loaded through your Wirex app (desktop or mobile). Depending on your region, the card can be loaded with cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP) and Litecoin (LTC), Stellar Lumens (XLM), Waves (WAVES) Dai (DAI), Nano (NANO), WOLLO (WLO), and Wirex Token (WXT).
Card balance can be converted to several fiat currencies including AUD, CAD, CHF, CZK, EUR, GBP, HKD, JPY, MXN, SGD and USD.
The card is available to all EEA residents and a lot of the Asia-Pacific region. More countries are being added over time, so you can check here if you want to see if your country is supported yet. The card is usable anywhere Visa is accepted.
In-store and online purchases are free no matter where you are, while ATM fees apply at different rates for the EEA and Asia-Pacific. Account management costs are generally free. The complete fee and limit schedule can be viewed here.
Wirex also supplies a virtual card if you don’t need the actual plastic.
Keep in mind that some of our users have stated they have had issues withdrawing cash from certain ATMs and paying online with the Wirex card.
Read my full Wirex review here.
Binance Visa Card
Pros: No administration fees, cash back rewards
Cons: Limited range of supported cryptocurrencies
Binance, the leading cryptocurrency exchange, released their own Binance Visa Card in mid-2020, in partnership with Swipe. Currently the card is only available to countries within the European Economic Area, however it appears that an expansion to other countries is underway, starting with Swipe being approved for launch in the US.
To get a Binance Visa Card, users pay a one-time $15 payment, and Binance charges no administrative or processing fees. Transaction fees are up to 0.9%, not including third party fees.
Binance Visa Card users can also receive up to 8% cash back on their purchases in Binance Coin (BNB).
Currently, the card only supports BTC, EUR, BNB, BUSD and SXP balances.
Bitpay Bitcoin Debit Card
Pros: Well-known company, no transaction fees, supports multiple cryptocurrencies
Cons: Limited to US residents only
For US residents there is the option of using BitPay’s Bitcoin debit card. The card is available in all 50 US states. You must have a home address (no PO boxes), government-issued ID, and Social Security number to apply.
The card costs a flat fee of $10 and takes about 7 days to arrive in the mail. There are no transaction fees for the Bitpay card. BitPay’s card supports Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP), Gemini Dollars (GUSD), USD Coin (USDC), Binance USD (BUSD) and Paxos (PAX).
If you’re using the card outside of the US you will need to pay a 3% conversion fee. If you withdraw money from an ATM you will pay a $2.50 fee (plus the conversion fee if you withdraw outside the US). There are also additional deposit and mailing fees which can be seen here.
Cryptopay Debit Card
Pros: Multiple currency support, available across the UK and Europe
Cons: Relatively high fees
Founded in October of 2013, Cryptopay is a wallet and payment platform that also issues a Bitcoin debit card. The card is currently available in the UK and Europe. You can either order a physical card with a chip & pin, or a virtual debit card if you’re just into online shopping.
The card supports BTC, ETH, LTC and XRP.
The physical card costs €5/£5 for a limited time and is shipped for free worldwide. ATM withdrawal costs €2.5/£2.5 domestically, or €3.5/£3.5 internationally, with 3% foreign exchange fees.
The card has a monthly maintenance fee of $1 and a 1% commission for loading (and unloading) money. The complete fee table can be viewed here.
Bitwala Debit Card
Pros: 0% fees, established company
Cons: BTC and ETH only, limited to EEA countries
Bitwala was founded in 2013 and has raised over €33m in venture capital funding to date. It allows EEA residents to buy and sell Bitcoins using their bank account.
Bitwala considers itself the first crypto bank account. While the company got hit by the initial Wavecrest shut down, it quickly recovered and started issuing services to their users in 2018.
Their card has 0% fees, but you may still be charged by certain ATM operators if you use it to withdraw cash. Purchasing limits are set to €1,500 daily but can be increased if needed to €3,000 or more. ATM withdrawals are limited to €3,000 daily. Total monthly limits are €10,000 for all transaction types.
Paxful Debit Card
Pros: Balance can be funded with 13 cryptocurrencies, established companies.
Cons: Currently only available in the US
Paxful, popular peer-to-peer cryptocurrency marketplace, also offers its own crypto debit card, through a partnership with BlockCard.
US users who provide know-your-customer (KYC) documentation will be eligible for the card, which requires a minimum balance of $10. Users can deposit up to 13 cryptocurrencies into their card balance, which is converted directly to USD upon spending.
The Paxful debit card is currently only available to the US, however plans have been made to expand globally.
ZenGo Debit Card
Pros: Non-custodial wallet, allows users to pick which asset they spend
Cons: Spending requires extra step due to non-custodial nature
ZenGo – the user-friendly cryptocurrency wallet, is also launching its own crypto debit card in 2021 with Visa.
ZenGo’s wallet will work slightly differently to others, due to it being a non-custodial service. Since ZenGo cannot view or access user account balances, users will have to convert funds to USD via the app before spending, rather than this being automatically done by the service.
Although this isn’t convenient, it does allow users to manually choose which asset balance you use, as well as preserving the security of your funds.
Nexo Debit Card
Pros: Spend crypto balance without selling the assets
Cons: Initially will only be available in Europe
Nexo, crypto financial service provider, is on the verge of releasing their own debit card, in partnership with Mastercard. Nexo’s debit card is unique in the sense that users can spend the value of their cryptocurrency, without actually selling it.
Nexo debit card users receive 2% cashback on all purchases, which can be received in Bitcoin or NEXO tokens. Users can also create free “virtual cards” which improve the safety of online purchases.
There are no recurring fees, nor exchange rate fees when spending your balance.
The card will be rolled out to the European Economic Area first, which will soon be followed by other regions.
SpectroCoin Debit Card
Pros: Connects to exchange wallet, great customer support
Cons: Must manually convert balances to fiat, only available in EEA
SpectroCoin is an all-in-one crypto exchange which offers an exchange-linked debit card to customers in the European Economic Area (EEA).
Although the SpectroCoin debit card is linked to a user’s exchange account wallet, the card itself can only be funded with EUR. This means that users will manually have to exchange their crypto to fiat within the exchange as needed – an extra step compared to other Bitcoin debit cards.
The card costs €7 with free standard shipping, and it’s free to load via the SpectroCoin wallet. There’s also a small monthly service fee of €1.15.
The SpectroCoin wallet can hold BTC and a range of other major coins, but remember you’ll have to manually exchange these to EUR to use your card. Exchange fees are variable and can be hefty at times of volatility.
3. New and Untested Bitcoin Debit Cards
Aside from the companies mentioned above I have found several less known companies that claim to supply a Bitcoin debit card. However, these companies have very limited information about them online and should be treated carefully.
Trastra debit card
Trastra debit card is a Visa payment card enabling users to receive funds in crypto and spend them in Euros. Though relatively new, the reviews seem to be mostly positive with support being highly responsive.
What makes it special is the ability to exchange crypto to Euros without the need for a bank account. You can receive and hold crypto in your Trastra wallet and spend them as Euros whenever you need.
The card supports the following cryptocurrencies:
- BTC
- LTC
- ETH
- BCH
- XRP
With no fees to trade and spend your crypto funds for Euro purchases, the card is competitive especially for its convenience. There are no card loading fees although, it costs €9.00 to order a card with a €1.25 monthly management fee.
Bitnovo debit card
Bitnovo caters mainly to residents of Spain. It allows users to buy several major cryptocurrencies through their mobile app, website or via vouchers that can be purchased in dedicated shops around Spain.
Their crypto debit card can be loaded with the following cryptocurrencies:
- Bitcoin (BTC)
- Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
- Dash (DASH)
- Litecoin (LTC)
- Ripple (XRP)
- Zcash (ZEC)
However it seems that unlike most debit cards, with Bitnovo you basically sell your coins the moment you move them to Bitnovo and your card gets only fiat funds.
This means that if you’d like to enjoy the volatility of your cryptocurrencies you’ll need to hold them until you actually want to purchase something before selling them in order to top off your card.
You can read additional Bitnovo reviews here.
PolisPay Debit Card
PolisPay offers a mobile wallet that can be connected with a crypto debit card powered by Mastercard. The card costs €20 including shipping and is only available to EU residents.
There’s a $35 yearly fee for the card and $4.50 fee on ATM withdrawals. The complete fee schedule can be viewed here.
I would be very careful when using this card since the whole website seems to be very sketchy in how it looks and feels (e.g. links aren’t working, no information about the company, etc.).
4. Inactive Debit Cards
- TenX debit card
- Shift debit card
- XAPO debit card
- SpectroCoin debit card
- CoinsBank debit card
- ANXPro debit card
- Uquid (active but doesn’t accept new customers)
- Crypterium (seems to be getting a ton of negative reviews online, I suggest avoiding)
5. Conclusion – Which card should you choose?
Aside from availability to your region, the most important deciding factors when choosing a card would likely be the company’s reputation, followed by fees. Other than that, since most of these cards work more or less the same there’s no ‘clear winner’, or loser, for that matter.
UK and EU residents are probably best off using the Coinbase Card, meanwhile US users would be best off using the long-established BitPay card – at least until the Coinbase Card rolls out there.
On a personal note, using a Bitcoin or crypto debit card is a great way to start realizing your crypto gains on a day to day basis.
Have you had any experience with a Bitcoin debit card? If so, I’d love to hear about it in the comment section below.
This is probably one of the best overviews of Bitcoin debit cards. *** Link removed***
Thanks a lot!
I’ve spent about two years trying to get a card,
I got one which worked for about two months, then
stopped working when the Banks shut them down.;
Why is Crypto.com not listed?
I am wondering the same thing.
Since I applied they have been verifying even now
I have not had access to my Wirex account or funds for 130 days. Wirex standard response when I complain is ‘We would be glad to provide you with the requested information, however, unfortunately, we are unable to do so until the completion of the investigation.’
I’ve no idea what they are investigating, why or why it is taking so long.
When I ask for an update on their escalation support thread they remove my comments. They don’t like others to hear that they have stolen my money.