Of the cards that I have covered so far, Coinbase's Debit Card and the Ternio BlockCard being the main two, all of them had had one thing in common. A surprising lack of features. An unfortunate trend of these cards is to focus on the process of paying with crypto and nothing else. In today's current world, typical debit cards still have an easier time paying for products than crypto cards do, meaning the only thing that truly separates crypto cards from traditional debit cards are the extra features that are offered. 

No other card takes this more to heart than the MCO Debit Card. Released in 2019 into the USA, the MCO card was created by Crypto.com, the company formerly behind the Monaco coin. They have since seen major coverage on part due to their blowout rewards system and their 50$ referral program. But is this card really as amazing as people say it is or is this card too good to be true?

Reasons why this card should be worshiped

• Mother of God look at the benefits

I literally did not believe my eyes when I first discovered this card. While specific benefits may vary depending on what card tier you end up getting, here is just a short list of some of the things to look forward to.

- 1-5% Crypto back on ALL spending

- Fully paid Spotify, Netflix, and Amazon Prime

- 10% Reimbursement at Expedia and Airbnb

- An Exclusive Merchandise Welcome Pack

- Bonus interest for specific cardholders

- Top Card holders get Airport lounge access and a private jet partnership

I have never seen a card with benefits such as this, and this is just stuff in addition to the other stuff the card has on offer.

• Mobile App/Wallet

As well as the card there is also a mobile app that functions as the main wallet/marketplace for the card. It offers over 50+ coins for purchase, making it a serious contender of access when it comes to sites such as Coinbase. The app allows you to deposit, purchase, and send crypto between various wallets. In addition, the app also comes with it's own list of features you don't even need the card for, including an in built *crypto dust converter* that converts amounts of crypto smaller than a penny into the apps native currency CRO.

• Extensive Interest Program

Users can decide to invest their own crypto assets through the cards app whereby they are able to earn interest. The app has three separate monthly plans based on how long you intend to wait for the investment. The amazing thing about there program however, is just the wide range in interest amounts that they have offered. Coins such as Maker or BAT can go for 4% APY while coins such as DAI can go up to 12. Crypto.com's own CRO can go up to a mythical 18% if you have over 500 MCO staked in the card.

• Referral Program Galore

Not necessarily a feature of the card itself, but if you end up liking this card a whole bunch, there's a nice added incentive to getting your friends and family in on it too. For every individual who you refer, both of you get 50$ in MCO coin as soon as they stake their first 50 MCO in the app. While not necessarily the easiest thing to convince someone to stake their money in an app they have potentially never heard of, I can confirm that you can in fact earn 50$ through the referral program as I myself have managed to previously.

On the off chance you want to earn the both of us a free 50$ then please by all means ;) https://platinum.crypto.com/r/cymwxa29cp

Reasons why this card is secretly the devil incarnate

• Dodgy founders and scandals

The card itself may look good on paper, but the people behind the card are another story. Before the card officially became available in the US they would advertise it to US citizens with all of its benefits, require them to submit their full identity whether that was passports or i.d and then told them at the end that the card wasn't available. The card itself was in production for over 3 years and not a peep was told to anyone about the card details before its actual release. In the midst of all this they also went and bought the domain Crypto.com for over 12 million dollars. Clearly what there money should have been focusing on.

• High price for card access

While getting the initial MCO card is technically free, none of the card versions even really have a monthly fee, the cost of upgrading goes up very quickly. Technically you don't pay to upgrade, you are instead required to stake a certain amount of MCO in the card for about 3 months before you can upgrade. This amount scales up dramatically from 50, to 500, to 5,000, and eventually 50,000. While obviously justifiable for some of the perks that comes with it, it is still a major impact on one's ability to get their card.

Does it look good in your wallet?

• Short answer - meh, it's OK

The card has definitely seen some improvements in design over its development to just a simple solid color finish with the companies logo on the side. While definitely appealing it is altogether kind of plain and lacking in any of the innovative flair that most other cards seem to have. In fact the only defining feature that card seems to have going for it is the fact that all cards past the free version are metal composite, giving the cards a hefty weight and is something that I very much am fond of. 6/10 While certainly not bad, I am sad more wasn't done with it.

Summary

In all honesty, I do believe that the people behind this card want to make it work and want the card to be successful. But I also believe that they are also shady as all hell and will/have resorted to not entirely transparent practices to try and get their card out there. That being said, the card does in fact ship to the US now and the mobile app is honestly good enough on it's own. At the end of the day my recommendation is this. If you are interested enough by this card and want to at least try it out, put in only as much money as your comfortable with losing. And in a few years if the card has proven it that it is trustworthy then you already have access to flat out one of the BEST cards on the market.

Use this link to get 50$ once you stake 50 MCO in the card: https://platinum.crypto.com/r/cymwxa29cp

Follow me for more cypto cards in the future! https://www.publish0x.com/@Von_Harley