3 Problems with Crypto.com Cashback Cards

By Landry | Landry | 16 Jul 2022

1 simple solution

Intro

When optimizing your personal finances, it makes sense to start with “low hanging fruit” or “quick wins”. One of these is to stop using a regular bank card, and to use a cashback card instead. There are many cashback cards available. My current favorites are the ones provided by Crypto.com and Binance. Both companies offer Visa debit (= prepaid) cards with cashbacks of up to 8%.

A cashback of 8% means that when you spend €100 at your local supermarket, you immediately get €8 back. Crypto.com will pay this €8 in CRO, while Binance pays its users in BNB. Users are free to convert these cryptocurrencies back into EUR, USD…. In a previous blog, I explained how these cashbacks can easily amount to hundreds of euros per year. Not bad for 10 minutes of work.

Crypto.com cards do come with some issues. In today’s blog, I will describe:

3 problems with Crypto.com cards
How Curve solves these problems

Problem #1: Card delivery delays 2022 Crypto.com Super Bowl ad

You might know Crypto.com from their recent commercials with Matt Damon or Lebron James. Advertisements like this bring in a lot of new customers, resulting in long waiting times for physical card deliveries. Crypto.com tries to limit this inconvenience by providing users with an online card first. When you sign up for a card, you immediately receive your card number, expiry date and CVC.

Because of this, you will be able to use your online card and receive a cashback when buying something online such as an airplane ticket, even though your physical card hasn’t arrived yet. While this is great, it’s unfortunate that new users often have to wait multiple weeks for their physical card to arrive. This delay in card delivery limits new users’ total cashback potential.

Problem #2: Only one card per person

After my previous blog, I had multiple couples reach out to me, asking:

Is it possible to open a joint Crypto.com account?
Can we receive a duplicate of our card?

Unfortunately, the answer is no. A crypto.com account is linked to one person and only one card. This seems to imply that couples that want 2 physical cards should each open an account.

Problem #3: No Apple Pay

Crypto.com cards currently cannot be added to an Apple Pay wallet outside of the US. This means that you will have to carry around your physical card if you want to enjoy the cashback perk. While this is not too bad — the cards are made from metal and have a nice design — it’s still a clear disadvantage of Crypto.com cards.

3 problems, 1 solution: Curve

There’s an easy fix for each of the aforementioned problems: Curve. A Curve card is a free Mastercard debit card that you can link with your regular debit and credit cards. For example, when I pay with my Curve card, the transaction amount is taken from my Crypto.com, Binance or regular Visa card. You can add as many cards as you wish and change the payment order.

Curve illustration

Curve solves problem #1: no card delivery delay

Curve’s card delivery is free and only takes about 1 week. When your physical Curve card arrives, you can link it to your digital Crypto.com card. Whenever you make a purchase with your Curve card, the amount will be taken from your Crypto.com card (indicated with “Crv*”) and you will receive the same cashback as if you had directly used your Crypto.com card.

In the Crypto.com app, Crv* indicates that a transaction was made with Curve

Curve solves problem #2: two cards per person

Once your physical Crypto.com card arrives, you will effectively (and for free) have a duplicate:

1 Curve card, linked to your Crypto.com card
1 Crypto.com card

In other words: through Curve, couples will never miss out on cashbacks on in-store purchases — without having to open 2 Crypto.com accounts.

Curve solves problem #3: pay with iPhone

In contrast to a Crypto.com card, Curve cards can be added to Apple Pay. Congratulations, you now only need your phone and keys when leaving the house!

Apple Pay illustration

Additional features

Because the Crypto.com card is a prepaid card, it can happen that you forgot to put money on it. Setting up a periodic payment order from your regular bank account to your Crypto.com bank account should avoid this most of the time.

As already mentioned, Curve allows users to link multiple cards to their Curve card. This adds another layer of “anti-embarrassment” protection. If the balance on one card is not sufficient when making a payment, Curve will automatically take the amount from the card that’s second in line, and so on.

Other Curve features include:

The “Go back in time”-feature, allowing users to retroactively change which card is used for a payment
Ability to use credit where only debit is allowed (by linking your Curve debit card to a credit card)
Spending overview and insights with automatic categorization of expenses
Additional 1% cashback at certain retailers of your choice (this feature costs €9.99/month for 3 retailers, €14.99/month for 6 retailers — not worth it unless you spend more than €999/month)

Crypto.com

Sign up for Crypto.com through my referral link (kfz85hpkaz) and receive $25 as a welcome gift, while also supporting this blog. As soon as you apply for a Ruby or higher tier card, your sign-up bonus will unlock.

You can read more about the Crypto.com cards here.