Yes, 1% is better than nothing! I want to share with you my experience, here in Europe, on signing up, setting up and spending with two of the most famous crypto prepaid/debit card. And just to make this clear: I won't be sharing any of my referral links, because I am truly fed up of those who do that. So I can be honest and as much as objective as possible.
The two major options in UK and Europe
I tried these two that represent, not the only one, but the most accessible way to get into these payment cards: Crypto.com and Binance Card. They are also available in more Countries, such as USA, Singapore and, soon for the first one at least, Canada. And they keep expanding into new markets.
Cash back on every transaction occurred in Crypto or FIAT*
*At the time of this post, CDC (crypto dot com) recently introduced more restrictions on their rewards, so that the cash back won't be recognised from specific merchants (actually too many).
So how do they work: simple, you top them up either with some of the supported Crypto (BTC, ETH, you name it) or with FIAT (moving the money from your traditional bank account via wire, or with an existing credit or debit card). Every time you spend you get a percentage back, in the form of a token cash back. Yes, you got it right: the Crypto.com gives you a cash back in their CRO token (total supply of 100B - billion with the B), while Binance Card uses their BNB coin (total supply 200m - million). Both coins/tokens have their own utility, which I am not going to cover, and can be converted in Crypto or cash and so on (140 CRO and 0,8 BNB are the minimum to do so).
The ecosystem behind and the user experience
With the exception of the Binance Card, the Crypto.com is a real pain in the neck: it took it almost two months to get the card delivered via mail! Binance Card is second to none: after a few clicks, you have a brand new virtual Visa Debit Card! And boom you are ready to go. CDC is more broad in terms of options, but you need to wait for the physical card to get delivered, before you can spend and have a cash back. Anyway, here is a top notch tip: you can associate both the cards to Curve. In this way, in a matter of minutes, you can have, for example, your Binance Card associated to Google Pay or Apple Pay (depending on the Country and Curve itself).
Other than that, their ecosystem is very complex for both. They both offer an exchange, the option to lend and borrow crypto/money, a hot wallet and many other features. But when it comes to the best user experience, IMHO, none of them are perfect! Let's talk about the cash back: both the cards start to a 1% tier and go up to the 8%, with additional perks based on how many token you "stake" with them. The CDC card offers a cash back on each transaction, instantaneously. That's neat. Binance Card, on the other hand, takes a couple of days to process your cash back.
Conclusion: beware of the fees!
Yes, fees everywhere. Pay attention to the terms & condition when you are signing up to these new kind of instrument, as for example Crypto.com charges 50€ for just closing the card (yeah, if you don't carry any balance they shouldn't). Or Binance Card charges up to 0,9% third-party conversion fees (now waived till the end of the year). It's clear that the future of payment cards is going to be more like this. However the situation is so much liquid, and these players change their rules every second day. If you want to sign up to one? I'd say go for the Binance Card and pair it with Curve!
