Is Crypto.com Metal Visa Card Superior To Other Pre-Paid Debit Cards? (Part 3 — Crypto.com Metal VISA Card)
Is Cypto.com metal VISA card the only cryptocurrency card that you will need for your daily spending now?
Read till the end and see if this will change your mind. 😁
Introduction
Hold your horses and grab some tea as in this article, I will deep dive into the technical portions regarding the metal VISA card and this includes comparisons with other prominent debit cards in the market as a benchmark. 😃
Previously, I have written an article to introduce crypto.com as a cryptocurrency project with a growing ecosystem of financial services that allows you to pay, earn, lend, trade, store your crypto. Click here to read this article (part 2 - crypto.com) first before continuing further.
Crypto.com Metal VISA Card
I am an existing user of crypto.com products and services. I am currently using their Royal Indigo / Jade Green metal VISA card (need to stake 5000 SGD worth of CRO for 180 days) that allows me to spend and get a 3% CRO cashback. That means that for every 100 SGD that I spend, I will earn 3 SGD in CRO cashback.
Do note that all fiat currencies in this article are in Singapore dollars denomination unless otherwise stated.
These are the key points for Royal Indigo / Jade Green that I am enjoying now. HAHA.
Initially, I was using the Ruby Steel card (need to stake 500 SGD worth of CRO for 180 days) for close to 6 months with just a 2% CRO cashback before I recently upgraded to my current tier just last month. Yahoo!!!🙋
These are the key points for Ruby Steel.
Kindly take note that you do not need to wait until the 180 days is up before you upgrade. You can upgrade to the next tier at any point in time as long as you fulfil the amount of CRO to stake. I upgraded to the next tier in just around 160 days!😁
I came across this product by chance online and saw the potential of earning cashback in CRO crypto (Percentages depends on your card tier) as the most obvious and plain simple reason for wanting to own one of these.
In this era of evergrowing blockchain technology, I could not let this opportunity slip by and I decided to sign up for this even before Crypto.com started to broadcast their marketing campaigns and doing partnership with big brands around the world to generate mass awareness.
After using the crypto.com metal VISA card and earning CRO crypto cashback whenever I buy something, it is very difficult for me to revert and use other cards that do not provide any form of cashback benefits.😂
Not forgetting their cards are full 100% made of metal.
I am always on the lookout to find ways to spend and earn crypto in an effortless way and my current bold plan is to bootstrap from my current position all the way to 50,000 SGD and upgrade to the next card tier which is essentially the Frosted Rose Gold / Icy White with 5% CRO cashback benefit by the end of next year.😅
As you upgrade upwards, there will be more and more benefits.
Each card has its own amount of CRO to stake and cashback as rewards. Choose and decide which one suits you best according to your needs.
I wrote my first experience using the crypto.com Ruby Steel metal card in an earlier article. Click here to read it before continuing further.
Click on the link (referral code: xiaogege) and perform the following steps to get a Free 25 USD sign-up bonus when you sign up for a crypto.com metal VISA card right now.
(*if you have difficulty opening up this link in your mobile phone, you need to first open it using your phone's web browser)
This is not a sponsored post.😃 I have been writing and publishing my own investment-related articles for over a year for free to share my ideas/opinions so that more can make their money work as hard for them while they sleep. 😀
What Is A Pre-Paid Debit Card?
Prepaid debit cards are different from credit cards as you first need to load funds onto prepaid cards before using them for payment. This includes the crypto.com metal VISA card.
The Battle of Pre-Paid Cards
To see what is the situation like in the market, I scout across the internet to investigate which traditional banking prepaid debit cards could rival and put up a fight with crypto.com's metal VISA card.
As expected, there were literally tons of debit cards available in the market and many actually do not have any cashback benefits at all let alone earning crypto cashback.
Those that have some sort of cash related cashback will usually require specific purchases from certain shops, brands or platforms, etc.
Below is a card that is more prominent in Singapore.
DBS Visa Debit Card - Your Multi-Currency Card
Simply spend a minimum of S$500 on Visa and keep your cash withdrawals to S$400 and below in the same month. Below are the exclusive categories that offer you up to 4% Cashback.
After eliminating those cards from the picture, below I painstakingly summarise two other companies' cards in the tables below.
The first card is the American Express Serve Cash Back. (in the USA)
The second card is the Wirex Visa Travel Card which comes in 3 tiers mainly Standard, Premium and Elite which is the closest fight to crypto.com metal card structure and benefits.
The first table shows the cashback benefits across different cards.
American Express Serve Cash Back (#1 card)
Those living in the USA will be more familiar with this card. This allows users to spend and obtain 1% unlimited cashback in cash at all available places that permit the usage of this card for both in-store and online. That means that for every $100 that you spend, you will earn $1 in cashback.
Do note that there are card sign-up fees, monthly fees and top-up fees.
This card only can pick a fight with Crypto.com - Midnight Blue card which only gives spenders 1% cashback. The difference is the former receive cashback in USD fiat currency while the latter receives CRO crypto coins.
This is the trade-off that you have to weigh on of being able to pay using American Express but with a cashback that is constantly fixed at 1% and not having options to upgrade upwards. Might be a bummer to some. Do you get where I am coming from?
Wirex Visa Travel Card (#2 card)
This card took one step further which is a multicurrency and crypto card for spending. This company offers three tiers mainly Standard (cashback 0.5% in WXT crypto), Premium (1% in WXT crypto) and Elite (2% in WXT crypto) which constitute various levels of Cryptoback rewards as they like to call it.
I will show just the standard plan perks and costs in this case.
For more details of the Premium and Elite plans, click here.
In order to get the 2% WXT crypto cashback, one has to sign up for the Elite card plan which includes a monthly fee of $29.90.
This is the biggest difference compared to crypto.com's card structure who chose to not charge any monthly fees with the condition that users will need to stake up 500 SGD worth of CRO coins in the Ruby Steel tier for 180 days to get a 2% CRO crypto cashback as an apple to apple comparison.
In the longer term, staking 500 SGD in CRO coins will make more sense as this is a one-time investment sunk cost. Also, this amount of CRO coins still belong to you in your account and this coin will likely appreciate in value over time when the utility of this coin grows bigger in the future as mentioned in my part 2 - article on the future roadmap for crypto.com
If you were to pay $29.90 for the Elite Wirex card, you will constantly have to pay this variable cost monthly to maintain this plan. This is an expense that cannot be recovered back no matter what happens. This is more suited for those who need a multifunction card while travelling on the go in my opinion.
Takeaways From Crypto.com Metal VISA Card
1. Daily Spending
Speaking from the personal view after using crpyto.com card for a while now, this card is most suited for everyday daily necessity spending on groceries, shopping and commuting on bus and subway, etc as long as VISA is accepted as a mode of payment.
2. Crypto Cashback
If you see and believe in Crypto as the future, why not start collecting crypto instead of cash as cashback?
With inflation rising to uncontrollable levels and eating up our fiat currency's spending powers, this is the least we can do for ourselves right? 😃
3. Reimbursement of Spotify / Netflix / Prime and many more
Depending on the amount of CRO that you stake and the card tier that you select, this will give you different benefits.
For my current card tier at Royal Indigo / Jade Green metal VISA card, I am enjoying some of the following:
- Spotify- reimburse per month up to USD 12.99 monthly subscription fee
- Netflix- reimburse per month up to USD 13.99 monthly subscription fee
- Airport lounge access for myself
- Additional 10% CRO staking weekly reward which is damn good!
Click on the link (referral code: xiaogege) and perform the following steps to get a Free 25 USD sign-up bonus when you sign up for a crypto.com metal VISA card right now.
(*if you have difficulty opening up this link in your mobile phone, you need to first open it using your phone's web browser)
4. Fees
Just stake CRO coins according to your card tier as the only condition to be a part of this.
- No monthly fees
- No annual fees
- No set-up fees
- No card delivery fee (*only 1st card is waived off. Subsequent card when you upgrade your tier or replacement of cards will require $50 payment)
When I upgraded to the Royal Indigo / Jade Green from the Ruby Steel tier, I chose not to buy a new card and continued using my existing Ruby Steel card just to save that $50 card replacement fee.
I received all the benefits of Royal Indigo / Jade Green, just that my card cannot access the Airport lounge unless I replace it with the new tier card.
5. Card Balance / Top-up
At any point in time, you can only have 5000 SGD on your metal VISA card.
The total amount that you can spend with this card cannot exceed 30,000 SGD in a year.
If you want to top-up your metal VISA card and avoid card processing fees, you can top up via Revolut which is what I am doing now. So convenient!
6. Who can sign up for a crypto.com metal VISA card?
You must be 18 years old or older to sign up for this.
The crypto VISA card is currently available in the US, Europe, the UK, Canada, and Singapore. To view the list of countries in Europe, refer to this link.
7. Sign up Process
Sign up for a crypto.com VISA card by downloading the Crypto.com App and completing our KYC - know your customer verification.
There are 3 steps required as follows:
a. Accept the Terms & Conditions
b. Have sufficient CRO in your App wallet to stake them for 180 days' lock-up period. You will first have to purchase CRO before you can stake in the App.
c. Submit & confirm your delivery address. When the Crypto.com VISA cards are ready to ship, users will be prompted to update the App and stake CRO, if they have not already.
The card status will be updated in the App, once all of the above steps are completed and the card is being shipped. For cardholders in Singapore, it means that you can expect your card to arrive within the next 3-7 business days.
"FORTUNE FAVOURS THE BRAVE".
If you believe in the project and the team behind it, click on the link (referral code: xiaogege) and perform the following steps to get the Free 25 USD sign-up bonus when you sign up for a crypto.com metal visa card right now.
http://crypto.com/app/xiaogege
- Click on the link and download the app via the Apple App store or Google Play store
- Submit and confirm your email
- Do the KYC verification
