Cards that serve US residents - FDIC-member bank issuers first, state-by-state caveats included.
Short answer:ether.fi Cash is our top-rated US crypto card as of 2026-11-04 (7.7/10), Basic KYC, 0% load fee.
cards on this page: 25 · issuing today (excl. watch list): 19 · independently verified facts: 84% · no KYC at first use: 0%
quick picks
uncapped bitcoin rewards on a credit product→Fold Bitcoin Credit Card - 1.5% BTC back uncapped via Celtic Bank, stackable toward ~4% with the payoff bonus - the flat-BTC archetype, US-issued
spend USDC with minimal tax friction→Coinbase Card - USDC spending is generally not a taxable disposal per the operator's own guidance - the cleanest fit for a stablecoin salary
The most complete self-custodial spending stack in this comparison: your own vault plus real bank rails in four currencies (ACH, SEPA, GBP FPS, Swiss IBAN), 3% ETHFI cashback on the first $2,000/mo with Category and 5% travel boosts, KYC light in practice (ID + liveness; proof of address only on request - verified first-hand September 2026 with a Paraguayan cedula and a German passport) and an uncapped public affiliate program. The documented risks are real: interest from the first tap in Borrow Mode, liquidation risk, the November 2025 fraudulent-card incident with promised refunds, a protection program still marked not yet live that excludes compromised keys, and cashback now locked in volatile ETHFI instead of instant USDC.
The most complete stablecoin-spending account on the market: US/EU virtual bank accounts from anywhere, Visa Platinum cards with real 1.5% USD cashback on the free tier, instant cashback and no spending caps. Full KYC and a young operator are the trade-offs; the paid tiers only make sense for heavy spenders.
Full KYC1.5% backphysical card
0% load · 1.5% back in USD
Spend up to whatever is in your wallet - no hidden monthly spending caps (Premium cap <= $10,000/mo, Private <= $40,000/mo apply to cashback earn rates, not spending)Neobank 6 d ago
The strongest mainstream exchange debit card for UK/EEA/US users on paper: free issuance, no monthly fee, 0% FX on the Mastercard rate, instant tiered cashback up to 2% and a metal card for high-balance users. The catch: cashback only starts above a GBP/EUR 200 average balance, crypto spend carries an undisclosed spread, and per-day limits are not published.
Full KYC2% backphysical card0% FX
0% load · 0% FX · 2% back in cash (GBP/EUR) or BTC
The cleanest bitcoin-rewards credit card structure documented: flat 1.5% in BTC uncapped with no annual fee, up to 4% for engaged users, issued by Celtic Bank under Visa. It is a credit product - VantageScore-based checks, bureau reporting, and variable APR 20.49-29.44% on carried balances.
The reference bitcoin-back debit card in the US: sats on every swipe via the Fold+ subscription (0.5% base plus rotating boosts up to 15%), FDIC pass-through on the USD balance via Sutton Bank, BitGo custody for bitcoin, Nasdaq-listed parent. The free tier earns no card cashback - Fold+ is the product.
The most mainstream way to hold BTC next to a Visa debit - but the card itself never touches bitcoin: every spend requires selling first, which is a taxable event per transaction. Use it for the Boosts and the frictionless BTC auto-investing, not for crypto-native spending.
The mainstream choice if you want crypto spend inside a full banking app - regulated, mature, multi-plan. Crypto card payments carry no exchange fee but the plan fair-usage limit counts crypto exchanges, each payment is a taxable disposal, and the September 2026 data breach exposed identity and transaction data. Solid for banking, honest about the crypto side-feature trade-offs.
A premium U.S.-issued charge-style credit card (Visa Infinite) for internationally mobile high-net-worth individuals with assets at U.S. banks/brokerages - NOT a crypto card: no crypto funding, no crypto wallet, and crypto purchases are explicitly prohibited. The only crypto connection is investor-side (Galaxy Ventures led the Series A). Strong points: 0% FX, 0% APR charge model, credit lines up to $200,000, fully published fee tables, Priority Pass and a 24/7 WhatsApp concierge. Weak points: $300/year with no cashback and unpublished point values, full KYC with a high U.S. asset bar ($50k-$150k), 16-country residency blacklist (incl. India, Turkey, Vietnam, Israel), invite/partner-gated distribution, binding arbitration in Puerto Rico, and an issuer ('Third National' = Nimbus LLC dba, PR money transmitter per our verified 2026-10-03 crosscheck) whose legal name Karta's own materials never spell out. Excellent niche product; irrelevant for spending cryptocurrency.
A US-registered, SOC-2-accredited exchange card with true point-of-sale crypto conversion - pick any listed coin as your spend wallet and it converts at the tap. The exchange and token ecosystem are mid-sized; the mechanism is the appeal.
A credible, well-backed self-custodial spend card with genuinely low fixed costs ($0 monthly/issuance/shipping, 0% APR) and true on-chain collateral custody in smart contracts. But it is not a privacy product (full KYC with SSN/national ID, GLBA data sharing), the rewards program is opaque (earn rates only in-app, statement-credit redemption at 70% of face), international FX is 'up to 3%' with a 1%-vs-2% disclosure conflict on the US side, and spending limits can be cut at Rain's sole discretion - with liquidation possible 'without prior notice'. Best for AVAX/stablecoin holders in the US (partial) and Latin America/Caribbean who want to spend against their stack; not for no-KYC users, and international terms (1-day payment window) behave much harsher than the US 21-day credit cycle.
The safest pair of hands in the comparison: NASDAQ-listed issuer context, FDIC-member bank card, zero fees on USD/USDC spending and no staking requirement. The trade-offs: US-only (no Hawaii), rewards rates are variable in-app only, and non-USDC crypto spends trigger auto-sell with spread and taxes.
Full KYCphysical card
0% load · no cashback
Spend limits apply (per terms; app-tier dependent)Exchange 48 d ago
The most generous crypto-rewards credit card in the US market - up to 6% back in BTC or CRO with no annual fee - but the best rates require CRO staking or a Level Up subscription, BTC earn is capped by tier, and it is credit (with bureau approval), not a debit card you can top up with crypto.
The Jupiter Card is the rare exchange-issued card that publishes real documentation: issuer split (Rain 43 countries / DCS 9 APAC countries), fees, limits and a signed cashback T&C. The fee stack is honest - no annual/monthly/deposit fees, only an issuer FX fee (1% Rain, 1.8% DCS) - and the 2% USDC cashback is real but capped at $100/month, with the 4% tier gated behind 2+ referrals in the prior month and a $200 cap. Custody is hybrid: your Jupiter DeFi wallet is self-custodial, but the Spend balance that backs the card is custodial with the issuing partners, and only USDC-origin deposits can be off-ramped. Main deductions: heavy KYC (SumSub liveness, APAC proof of address, undeletable Jupiter ID), rewards governed by Panama-law terms with an unnamed operator entity, no EEA/UK availability, and discretionary rewards clawback rights. A solid spend card for supported markets in the Americas, APAC and parts of Africa/MENA - not a privacy product.
A Ledger-branded Visa prepaid card by Baanx that lets users spend from Ledger self-custody, converting crypto to fiat at the moment of purchase and paying 1% cashback in BTC (2% in BXX). Live across UK/EEA plus a 2025 US expansion, but the open jurisdiction list is login-gated and the old Ledger shop pages are dead links.
The most mature crypto prepaid card in the US - FDIC-member bank issued, $25k/month top-ups and clean tier structure - but the free tier earns nothing, real cashback requires a subscription or five-to-six-figure CRO stakes, and rewards are paid in volatile CRO.
Full KYC1.5% backphysical card
0% load · 3% FX · 1.5% back in CRO
$25,000 aggregated top-up limit per month (all tiers)Exchange 37 d ago
A US credit card on the American Express network paying up to 4% back in Bitcoin, issued via Cardless and gated behind a Coinbase One subscription. Evidence is press-grade only - the operator's own pages are unreachable from our IP - so treat every detail as unverified.
Tuyo Card is a genuinely self-custodial USDC-on-Base spending card with unusually good raw specs: no issuance/monthly/yearly fee, 0% on USD-in-US spend, huge daily limits ($50k rising to $200k), broad country availability outside a well-published 27-country prohibited list, and a detailed, dated help center - rare transparency for availability. The weak points are real: there is no cashback (BNPM random free purchases are a marketing lottery, not a reward rate), TUYOs points are unvalued until a promised 2026 token, and there is a material fee-truthfulness gap - the binding cardholder agreement allows up to 3% FX + 3% cross-border, double the 2% ceiling the site advertises. Full KYC (SSN/DOB via issuer Third National) and an individual-arbitration class waiver sit alongside the self-custody pitch. Virtual-only (physical 'coming soon'), ATM capped at $250/withdrawal and 3 attempts/24h. A good self-custody spending rail for USD-centric users who live outside the excluded jurisdictions - but treat the 'fees' as '1-2% advertised, up to 3-6% legally possible' and the rewards as lottery tickets, not yield.
Hyperbeat Pay is the card of the Hyperliquid ecosystem's yield layer: a Visa credit/debit hybrid where a self-custodial smart wallet (ManagementAccount) settles spend from your beatUSD/USDC balance or JIT-borrows beatUSD against BTC/ETH/SOL/HYPE collateral in dedicated Morpho markets - spend without selling, audited by Zellic/Nethermind, issued by Third National under Visa. The mechanics are genuinely novel (on-chain settlement, user-set operator allowances, timelocked withdrawals) and self-custody is real. The weaknesses are transparency and reachability: no public fee schedule or cardholder agreement (fees only via DefiLlama), cashback token (WHYPE) not documented, a template artifact from ether.fi in the legal terms, an operator entity with no published incorporation, and a cashback model whose headline 3-12% tiers demand $1M-50M monthly trading volume - the realistic everyday rate is 0.2-1.0%. Strong for active Hyperliquid traders; ordinary spenders get a thin-rewards card with undocumented fees.
The most regulated issuer context for a crypto-rewards credit card (NYDFS trust, WebBank-issued Mastercard World Elite): 4% gas/EV/transit, 3% dining, 2% groceries, 1% elsewhere, no annual fee, rewards in BTC or 50+ cryptos. It is a credit product (bureau approval, no crypto funding), US-only, and the issuer carries a 2025-2026 withdrawal-security-hold complaint pattern at the exchange level.
The most token-aligned card on the market: Plasma One is a real, working stablecoin neobank (instant virtual Visa, self-custodial on-chain balance, broad fiat rails, transparent fee tables, genuinely strong headline cashback) built by the XPL blockchain team - and every part of its economics points back at the token. Cashback is paid in XPL, the paid tiers are bought with 12-month XPL locks, and growth is driven by referral codes rather than organic demand. The free Lite tier is honest value (2% on the first $500/mo, free virtual card) if you treat the XPL payout as a hot potato, but the Core/Platinum tiers ask you to lock a token that has lost ~95% from its ATH for 12 months to unlock rates that then step down to 0.25-1% anyway. Use Lite, cash out weekly, and skip the locks unless you would buy XPL anyway.
Phantom Cash finally gives the biggest Solana wallet a spending rail: a free virtual Visa paid out of a CASH stablecoin balance with Apple/Google Pay and yield on idle balances. But it is a US-only (ex-NY), virtual-only product with a USD 2,000 standard daily cap, 1.75% card funding and no card cashback - a nice extension of the wallet, not yet a full card program.
A genuinely onchain attempt at a secured-credit card: USDC sits in a user-owned escrow contract, fees are almost zero (no monthly, no top-up, 0% own FX markup), virtual cards are instant, and the August 2026 $500k partner-infra hack was refunded in full plus 10%. But rewards are referral-shaped rather than real cashback, KYC is full Sumsub with 5-year retention, UK/EEA is not served, the $35 non-refundable dispute fee is consumer-hostile, and the exploit showed that 'self-custodial card' still means trusting third-party contract logic once funds leave your wallet. Reasonable as a cheap crypto-spend card for the supported 50 countries; keep card balances small.
Genuinely novel onchain-credit card: your deposits sit in the audited Exactly fixed/variable-rate lending markets earning variable yield while acting as collateral; Pay Now debits your balance, Pay Later borrows fixed-rate on-chain and repays in up to 9 installments every 28 days - all at 0% APR with the cost embedded in the fixed borrow rate (optional origination fee). Self-custodial smart-account wallet (passkeys), free virtual Visa Signature, instant issuance, Apple/Google Pay. Weak spots: no purchase cashback (only capped promo campaigns), 1.5% FX + up to 1.5% cross-border on the international card, virtual-only, full KYC, issuance concentrated in LatAm/Africa/Asia + 31 US states (not Western Europe/UK/Canada), and protocol exploit history means collateral is exposed to smart-contract risk by design.
A real, documented, collateral-backed Visa credit card from a funded ($12M) crypto-native team - the most complete legal/fee/cashback disclosure set of any Rain-stack card reviewed so far. But the fine print matters: FX and ATM fees are open-ended 'up to' numbers, cashback is a non-guaranteed vendor promise with lagging, discretionary distributions, spending limits can be cut to $0 without notice, issuance is effectively ~7 countries (not the advertised 150+), and the shared Rain top-up infrastructure was exploited in August 2026, hitting 636 Tria cardholders for $431,945 (refunds committed). Keep only needed funds in the card balance and treat the cashback program as discretionary.
Full KYC1.5% backphysical cardverify
1% load · 3% FX · 1.5% back in USDC and/or USDT (chosen by Tria; distributed on Ethereum, Polygon, Optimism or Arbitrum)
Back and verifiable: the Uphold Debit Card relaunched in the US with up to 4% back in XRP (Elite, $99.99/yr) or 2% (Essential, free), Visa acceptance with Apple/Google Pay, no credit check and FDIC pass-through on the USD balance. The trade-offs: rewards are XRP-denominated with conditions (holding periods, monthly caps), the program's history is pause-and-restart, and support tickets show crediting/adjustment friction. US-only (no NY/LA/territories).
The US market is a partner-bank market - everything follows from that
25 programs serve US users today, and none of them issues its own plastic. The structure is consistent: a fintech runs the program, a small chartered bank (Sutton, Celtic, WebBank, Pathward) issues the card and holds the float, and the rewards are financed by interchange economics that only work in this configuration [7][8][9]. Understand that structure and the US market's quirks - the reward generosity, the state exclusions, the slow stablecoin integration - all follow from it.
The four-layer compliance stack every US program must clear.
The interchange loophole that pays for everything
US rewards economics rest on two exemptions inside Regulation II. Reloadable general-use prepaid cards are excluded from the cap (21 cents + 0.05% + 1 cent) [via 12 CFR 235]; and issuers with assets under $10 billion are exempt from routing and cap rules entirely [3]. Every partner bank in this market fits at least one exemption. That is why a US debit card can pay a flat uncapped 1.5% in BTC [7] while a European card legally cannot - not because US issuers are generous, but because the US cap has two doors and the whole industry lives in them. The exemption is also the fragility: a legislative change to either door rewrites every reward table on this page at once, which is why the terms on US programs carry more "subject to change" language than their European equivalents.
12 of the programs here are credit products, and they matter disproportionately: credit cards sit outside the debit cap discussion altogether, which is why the 2026 US flagship products (Gemini, Fold's credit card, Crypto.com's Comenity-issued card) are credit rather than prepaid [8][9]. The credit card is where uncapped rewards became sustainable.
The regulatory state: GENIUS final rule issued, issuers not yet named
The GENIUS Act (P.L. 119-27, signed 2025-07-18) defines payment stablecoins, permitted issuers, 1:1 reserves and an effective date of 2027-01-18 [1]. The OCC's implementing final rule arrived on 2026-10-21 (Bulletin 2026-50, 12 C.F.R. part 15): reserves, two-business-day redemption with defined start and end points, and the issuer-paid-yield ban are now written rule text [5][6]. Two things are still open: the list of permitted issuers does not exist yet, and the AML/sanctions piece goes through a separate Treasury-coordinated rulemaking. The practical consequence for card users: USDC issued through OCC-chartered entities is the closest thing to a federally supervised stablecoin rail, and every program's "stablecoin" claim should be read against which issuer actually stands behind the coin.
Tax reporting moved first: Form 1099-DA applies to broker transactions since 2025-01-01 [2], with the card-specific carve-outs noted above ($600/year for payment processors, $10,000/year for qualifying stablecoins). The de-minimis reporting exemptions are not tax exemptions. The sequencing is worth noting: the US is building the reporting layer (IRS), the licensing layer (states, OCC) and the reserve layer (GENIUS) in that order, and card products live at the intersection of all three. A program that predates the 1099-DA era should be audited against the new reporting reality - which is exactly what happened to Crypto.com's US product when it rebuilt as a credit card [9].
Crypto.com US cards page, live capture 2026-10-01 - the Visa Signature credit product front-and-center beside the prepaid tier system.
Warning: State licensing is the silent constraint. The MTL patchwork (up to 53 jurisdictions, Montana the only exemption, 31 states harmonized under MTMA [via CSBS]) means region lists differ card by card, and a program's US launch is a multi-year licensing project, not a feature. When a card page lists excluded states, that list is the license map - not geo-blocking theater.
Live values from our database - details and caveats in each review. "-" = not published by the operator.
17 of 25 programs charge no monthly fee; 16 carry ongoing rewards with 11 publishing caps; and the median load fee across the set is ~0%. The market's pricing signature: US programs monetize interchange and subscriptions rather than FX (most US spending is domestic, so the FX lever is weak), which produces richer headline rewards than the EU at the cost of more caps and tier conditions [2 of the three archetypes in the cashback hub live here]. Verified-fee coverage is 84% - the rest are operator-reported, and the check dates are on each card page.
The state list is a license map
Excluded states deserve one more paragraph because they keep surprising applicants. Hawaii is absent from the best-known program (Coinbase names all states except Hawaii); New York is excluded from several programs because its BitLicense regime sits outside the MTL count and inside a separate, stricter statute. Washington and a handful of others periodically tighten surety-bond requirements that reshape small programs' economics. None of this is visible from a homepage that leads with "available in all 50 states" - the state list on the card page is the load-bearing document, and it changes when licenses land, not when marketing refreshes.
Choosing by profile
Stablecoin income (USDC salary or freelance payments): the USDC-first products let you spend without creating a taxable disposal per transaction, and the stablecoin hub covers the reserve-quality layer behind the coin your card holds. Verify which chain your USDC arrives on before the first load - the deposit matrix is per-chain, not per-brand. Bitcoin accumulation as a spending habit: Fold's stack (1.5% uncapped base, boosts, payoff bonus) is the mature implementation [7]. Category-maximizers with domestic spending: Gemini's published caps make the math predictable [8]. Travel-heavy users: the US set is FX-stronger than it is FX-optimized - check the zero-FX hub before assuming a US card is the travel tool; its fee tables are built for domestic spend. And for anyone structuring spending around rewards rather than choosing among them, the cashback hub holds the archetype analysis these three profiles compress.
It creates a federal framework for "payment stablecoins" with permitted issuers, 1:1 reserves and a prohibition on issuer-paid interest. The OCC issued its implementing final rule on 2026-10-21 (Bulletin 2026-50) and it takes effect 2027-01-18; no permitted issuers are named yet [1][5][6]. For card users today nothing has changed yet; the framework matters for which stablecoins your card will hold tomorrow.
Do I owe tax when I spend crypto with a card?
Spending crypto is a disposal of property in the US - each transaction is a taxable event with gain or loss computed per lot. Spending USD or USDC bought and held is generally treated as spending cash or a stablecoin held at par; Coinbase's own guidance says USD and USDC spending generally has no tax implications while other crypto is a taxable sale. Keep lot-level records; the tax guide walks the mechanics.
What is the 1099-DA and does my card issuer file one?
Form 1099-DA reports digital asset sales by brokers, effective for transactions from 2025-01-01 [2]. Card-relevant carve-outs: processors of digital asset payments need not report payment-asset sales up to $600/year per customer (above that, everything is reported), and qualifying stablecoin sales under $10,000/year can be excluded under the optional method. These are reporting thresholds, not tax exemptions - your own obligation is unchanged.
Why are US crypto card rewards higher than European ones?
The interchange cap (Reg II: 21 cents + 0.05% + 1 cent fraud adjustment) does not apply to reloadable prepaid cards, and issuer banks under $10B in assets are exempt entirely [3]. Fold, Gemini and Coinbase cards ride partner banks that fit the exemption. The EU's 0.2% debit cap closed that route - which is why the same brands offer richer rewards in the US than in Europe.
Who issues these cards - the crypto company?
No. Fold's debit card comes from Sutton Bank, its credit card from Celtic Bank; Gemini's from WebBank; Coinbase's from Pathward [7][8]. The crypto company runs the program; the chartered bank issues the card, holds the fiat float and carries the regulatory burden. This matters for FDIC coverage (pass-through on the fiat, not the crypto) and for what happens if the crypto company fails - the card outlives the app or it does not, depending on program structure.
What is the money transmitter license patchwork?
A US card operator needs money transmitter licenses in up to 53 jurisdictions (49 states, DC, and the territories); Montana is the only state without a general MTL statute. 31 states have adopted the Money Transmission Modernization Act to harmonize rules, and MTMA states cover 99% of reported transmission activity [4]. This patchwork is why some products are state-restricted - licensing is the binding constraint, not technology.
Are sats earned as rewards taxable?
The conservative US reading treats a crypto reward as property received - income at fair market value when credited, then a disposal when sold. Fold frames rewards as discounts in its marketing while its own terms acknowledge that paying a statement in bitcoin is a taxable disposition [7]. The IRS cash-rebate rule (basis reduction) applies to fiat rebates; crypto rewards are less clearly settled - document your method and stick to it.
Is a US crypto card balance FDIC-insured?
The fiat float, sometimes, as pass-through: Fold's debit card states FDIC pass-through coverage to $250,000 through Sutton Bank [7]. The crypto balance never is - bitcoin held for rewards (Fold uses insured BitGo custody, not FDIC) is not a deposit. Programs vary; read the issuer's disclosure rather than the homepage badge.
What happened to Crypto.com's US card program?
It converted. The 2026 US flagship is a Visa Signature Credit Card issued by Comenity Capital Bank - "spend in dollars, earn in bitcoin" - with BTC rewards capped by tier ($250-$10,000/month depending on tier, then 2%) and CRO rewards uncapped [9]. The old prepaid tier-stake system is the international product now. If your mental model of that program predates 2024, re-read the terms before loading.
Do US cards work with Lightning?
1 program on this page supports Lightning top-ups (Cash App Card; Fold's ecosystem handles bitcoin natively without calling it a rail). US card programs are overwhelmingly stablecoin or fiat-first; Lightning funding remains the exception. For Lightning-heavy strategies, the Lightning hub covers the dedicated programs.
Which states are excluded from card availability?
Hawaii is the standard exclusion - Coinbase's card is available in all states except Hawaii, and several programs exclude NY due to BitLicense requirements [see card pages]. New York's separate virtual-currency license (not part of the MTL count) is the second binding constraint. Check your state on the card page before applying; availability rows change when licenses land.
