Cryptocurrency has seen an astronomical rise in popularity as of late and some major facets of the financial world are scrambling to decide if, how, an when, they can make their mark in the crypto world. I have seen ads for a couple of crypto rewards credit cards that caught my and wondered if they are worth my time or not. It seems that just bout every crypto exchange is partnering up to offer some sort of debit card, but the offerings from Gemini and BlockFi are the first actual credit cards to offer crypto rewards that I have found.
The BlockFi Visa Bitcoin Rewards Card -
On paper this looks amazing, use your Visa card and earn 1.5% back in Bitcoin on all your purchases, you also get a $250 Bitcoin bonus if you spend $3,000 within your first three months. However, this card does come with a $200 annual fee which could take a bite out of your earnings unless you plan one spending well over $15,000 a year on the card. The card is not available yet, but you can get on the waitlist at BlockFi.com.
The Gemini Blockrize Rewards Card-
The Gemini Credit Card is launching as a credit card with cryptocurrency rewards. Thanks to their acquisition of Blockrize, Gemini plans to combine their crypto platform with Blockrize's rewards program and allow card holders to earn up to 3 percent back in bitcoin, or other cryptos, on every purchase they make with the Gemini Credit Card. I haven't read many details about fees for this card, as it is also not yet available, but you can get on the waitlist at Gemini.com.
I was excited when I started reading about the BlockFi card, but then my enthusiasm waned once I realized that there are credit cards out there with better rewards. There are multiple options of 2% or more cashback cards that don't have a $200 annual fee. Using one of those, I could easily purchase more crypto with my cash back than I could with the crypto I would earn with this card. Yeah, there is an extra step there, but money is money.
The Gemini card looks like it could have more upside with 3% back in crypo just for using my credit card. I really want to know more about the fine print of this card before I get too excited, but I like the sales pitch they've laid down. (I hadn't heard of Blockrize before writing this.)
These may be the fist, but they certainly won't be the last. With things like Mastercard offering support for crypto, PayPal expanding their crypto support, and Crytpto.com sprinting towards their Mainet launch, there should be some interesting things happening in the comings months.
Now, if you're looking a a debit card with crypto rewards instead of a credit card, there are a ton of options from the likes of Coinbase, Bitwala, Binance, Wirex, bitpay, and CRYPTO.COM to name a few. Investopedia has a nice write up about some of the best perks you can get from those cards that you can read here.
Do you plan an applying for any of the crypto credit cards?
