The Amon Card is a crypto-backed UnionPay debit card offered by the fintech company. It offers an easy way to pay for daily purchases using crypto, British Pounds (GBP), and Euro (EUR).
But is the Amon Card worth getting? What features does it offer that other Bitcoin debit cards don’t? More importantly, what are the fees like?
In this Amon Card review, I’m going to help you understand everything there is to know about this card and Amon’s other features. I’ll talk about how the card works, its features and limits, and what fees it charges so you can decide if you want to add it to your wallet.
Advantages & Disadvantages
Advantages
- European-regulated crypto company that’s registered in Estonia.
- Amon Card, Wallet & Earn are available to UK residents.
- You can pay using GBP, EUR, or crypto with the Amon Card.
- No commission fees or limits on crypto trades.
- Can earn interest on your crypto balance using Amon Earn.
Disadvantages
- UnionPay cards aren’t as widely accepted as Visa or Mastercard.
- Amon Card doesn’t currently support Google or Apple Pay.
- Complex fee and limits schedule for Amon Card and Wallet.
- Relatively few supported cryptocurrencies.
What is Amon?
Amon is an Estonian fintech company that offers a platform for buying, selling, storing, and spending cryptocurrencies. It was founded in 2018 by crypto enthusiast Daniele Izzo and its mission is to “design exceptional and simple crypto services”.
Although Amon is registered in Estonia and it has an operating licence (#FVT000152) from the Estonian Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) to provide crypto services, it operates globally – including in the UK.
In the UK, Amon offers a number of crypto-related features, such as the Amon Card (a crypto-backed debit card). Amon also provides interest-bearing crypto accounts and a hosted hot wallet where you can buy crypto with a bank transfer.
Amon Products
Amon is arguably best known for its crypto-backed debit card, the Amon Card. But they offer a number of other products for crypto enthusiasts, including:
- Amon Card: The Amon Card is a debit card that lets you use your crypto and fiat balance to make purchases both online and in stores. It offers a range of other benefits, too, such as cash back on your purchases.
- Amon Wallet: With the Amon Wallet, you can store and trade crypto. It’s a hosted hot wallet that provides you with easy access to Amon’s trading platform so you can buy and sell crypto using a SWIFT bank transfer.
- Amon Earn: Amon’s Earn feature lets you accrue interest on crypto that you hold in your account. The interest rates can vary, but they’ve been as high as 12% on certain coins in the past.
- AMN Token: The Amon Token (AMN) is the rewards token for the Amon ecosystem. When you make purchases with the Amon Card, you can earn up to 3% cash back in the form of AMN. You can also get 0.50% cash back for every pound you spend buying crypto through Amon.
Amon Card
The Amon Card is a UnionPay co-branded crypto debit card.
It’s available as a physical card and you can use it to pay for goods and services anywhere that UnionPay is accepted.
How Does the Amon Card Work?
Technically, the Amon Card is a multi-currency debit card that can pay for purchases in British Pounds (GBP), Euro (EUR), and crypto.
However, UK residents have GBP set as their default currency on their Amon Card. You can still use your EUR to pay for EUR transactions, but if you make a non-EUR or GBP transaction (e.g., you buy something in USD), your GBP balance will be debited by default.
Your Amon Card is also linked to your Amon Wallet balance, so you can spend your crypto with the card, too. If you pay using your crypto, it will automatically be converted to either GBP or EUR on your behalf whenever you make a purchase.
When you make purchases with your Amon Card, you can also earn up to 3% cash back in the form of AMN tokens depending on your card tier. These tokens will be deposited directly in your Amon Wallet for you to sell or hold as needed.
Supported Countries
The Amon Card is currently only available in the UK.
Amon hopes to offer the Amon Card to the EU and most other countries in the near future.
Fees/Limits
Amon currently has a fairly complicated series of fees and limits for the Amon Card.
There are four basic Amon Card tiers that offer different benefits to card holders, and each tier comes with its own limits and fees.
These tier-based fees are as follows:
| Midnight Elk | Silver Bison | Polar Bear | Black Wolf | |
| Required AMN Token Deposit | €0 | €150 | €700 | €2,000 |
| Cashback on Amon Wallet Crypto Purchases | 0.50% | 0.50% | 0.50% | 0.50% |
| Cashback on Amon Card Spend | 0.50% | 1% | 2% | 3% |
| Monthly Membership Fee | €1 | €1 | €1 | Free |
| ATM Withdrawal Fee (Domestic) | Free up to €200, 2% afterwards | Free up to €400, 2% afterwards | Free up to €600, 2% afterwards | Free up to €800, 2% afterwards |
| ATM Withdrawal Fee (International) | Free up to €200, 3% afterwards | Free up to €400, 3% afterwards | Free up to €600, 3% afterwards | Free up to €800, 3% afterwards |
| Foreign Transaction Fee (Other Than GBP/EUR) | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% |
| Card Replacement Fee | €9.99 | €9.99 | €9.99 | €9.99 |
| Transaction Dispute Fee | Free | Free | Free | Free |
| Live Chat Support | No | No | Yes | Yes |
Note that the Amon Card membership fee is waived for the first 12 months of card ownership. You can also get a 20% discount if you pay your fees in AMN tokens.
In addition to the above-listed tier-based fees, Amon has limits that apply to all of its card tiers, which are as follows:
| Per Day | Per Month | Per Year | |
| Number of transactions | 30 | 450 | 2500 |
| Maximum single transaction value | €1,500 | €1,500 | €1,500 |
| Total spend limit | €1,500 | €5,000 | €60,500 |
| Maximum number ATM withdrawals | 3 | 30 | 360 |
| Maximum single ATM withdrawal value | €500 | €500 | €500 |
| Minimum single ATM withdrawal value | €20 | €20 | €20 |
| Maximum total ATM withdrawal value | €500 | €5,000 | €25,000 |
If there’s one thing that we can say about Amon, it’s that they are transparent with their fees and limits, even if their fees and limits system is a bit confusing.
The real downside to the Amon Card as far as costs go is that it charges a monthly fee unless you deposit €2,000 worth of AMN tokens. There are a lot of other crypto-backed debit cards out there that don’t have monthly fees, so it may not be worth spending €12 a year on a card that you could get for free elsewhere.
Amon Wallet
In addition to the Amon Card, Amon offers a comprehensive crypto trading and storage platform called the Amon Wallet. It’s available primarily as an Android and iOS app, but you can technically access the Amon Wallet on a web browser, too.
The Amon Wallet’s main features include:
- Crypto Storage: The Amon Wallet’s crypto storage feature is offered in partnership with BitGo, which is an institutional digital asset custodial platform. BitGo stores approximately 95% of client funds in offline cold storage and it offers a number of other security features to protect users from hackers. Keep in mind that the Amon Wallet is a hosted hot wallet, so you won’t have control over your private keys.
- Crypto Trading: With the Amon Wallet, you can buy and sell any of the platform’s 10+ supported cryptocurrencies using its easy-to-use instant buy feature. You can buy or sell crypto using GBP or EUR. The wallet also supports crypto-to-crypto swaps.
- Send & Receive Crypto: The Amon Wallet lets you send and receive crypto from other Amon users and from external wallets.
Supported Cryptocurrencies
Amon currently supports the following cryptocurrencies in its wallet:
- Bitcoin (BTC)
- Ethereum (ETH)
- Amon Token (AMN)
- Litecoin (LTC)
- Dash (DASH)
- Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
- Dai (DAI)
- USD Coin (USDC)
- Ripple (XRP)
- Qash (QASH)
- Tether (USDT)
- Polygon (MATIC)
Supported Countries
The Amon Wallet is available in the UK and EU, as well as in the US and Canada.
Amon offers its wallet and trading services in over 150 countries around the world. You can check out this list of excluded regions to see if the Amon Wallet is available in your area.
Payment Methods
You can fund your Amon Wallet with either GBP or EUR using a debit card or bank transfer.
Alternatively, you can deposit any supported cryptocurrency directly into your Amon Wallet.
Fees/Limits
There are no explicit fees or limits that you’ll need to deal with when using the Amon Wallet.
All crypto trades are fee-free as Amon doesn’t charge commissions. But this doesn’t mean trading is completely free.
Like many other commission-free crypto brokers, Amon likely takes a spread fee on each trade. This basically means that you won’t get as competitive of an exchange rate on your trades when compared to the current market rate.
Amon Earn
Earn is a nifty feature from Amon that lets you accrue interest on your crypto holdings. Amon offers interest on select cryptocurrencies in your Amon wallet with no minimum lock-up periods or restrictions. Interest is paid on a weekly basis in-kind using the same crypto that you initially invested.
There are no fees involved with using Amon Earn, but there are three key things you should keep in mind before signing up.
First, Amon’s interest rates can change at any time. They seem to offer the best rates on stablecoins, but the interest that Amon offers on most coins is between 1% and 5%. Only a few coins come close to Amon’s advertised rate of interest “as high as 12%” at any given time. In fact, you can often get better rates by investing directly with Celsius.
Second, Amon offers simple—not compound—interest on your deposited crypto. If you deposit 100 USDT into your Amon Earn account, you will only earn interest on the original deposit. You won’t earn interest on your accrued interest.
Finally, Amon Earn isn’t available everywhere that Amon offers crypto investing. Check out this list of excluded countries for more information.
Amon Alternatives
If you want a crypto-backed debit card like the Amon Card but with more versatility, consider the CoinJar Card.
The CoinJar Card is a crypto-backed Mastercard debit card that supports 50+ cryptocurrencies. It also has a simple fee structure (1% fee on each transaction) and a sweet rewards program. You also don’t have to deposit any special tokens like AMN to get all the card’s benefits.
Find out more in my CoinJar Card review.
For cashback rewards and other similar features, consider the Crypto.com Visa Card instead.
Like the Amon Card, there are different Crypto.com Visa Card tiers that provide you with varying benefits based on how much Crypto.com Coin (CRO) you deposit, including up to 8% cashback on purchases. But what makes the Crypto.com Visa Card a good alternative is its wider array of supported cryptocurrencies and the fact that it’s a Visa card, so it’s accepted nearly everywhere.
Find out more in my full Crypto.com review.
Is Amon Card the Best Crypto Debit Card?
Amon is a relative newcomer to the cryptosphere and the Amon Card is a sleek option for people who want an easy way to spend crypto and fiat using a single debit card.
Some of my favourite features of the Amon Card include:
- Multi-Currency Support: The Amon Card supports GBP, EUR, and crypto as payment methods for your daily purchases.
- Cash Back Rewards: You can earn up to 3% cash back for every purchase you make using the Amon Card, which is competitive for a crypto-backed debit card.
- Seamless Trading & Earn Integrations: In addition to the Amon Card, Amon offers a hosted hot wallet that provides crypto trading and opportunities to earn interest on your digital assets.
The biggest issue I have with the card is that it charges a monthly fee. Amon also has a very confusing system of fees and limits for its debit card.
I also don’t like that you have to deposit AMN tokens to access the card’s best features and that your crypto rewards are paid in AMN rather than BTC.
On top of that, the Amon Card is co-branded with UnionPay – which isn’t as widely accepted as Visa or Mastercard.
Check out their website to find out more.
Thanks for Reading
Thanks for checking out this Amon Card review!
What do you think? Would you consider adding the Amon Card to your wallet?
Let me know in the comments below!