Binance Card
Summary
The Binance Card is available in the EEA and half a dozen other countries (not the UK).
This is a “true” crypto debit card, which supports the on-demand conversion of 14 cryptocurrencies to pay for purchases you’re making online or in-store.
And although it promotes that you can get up to 8% cashback on your spending, this is out of reach for most – as it requires you to hold 600+ BNB in your Binance account. At the time of writing, that’s worth more than £150,000/€170,000.
It also remains unclear how much you should expect to pay in transaction fees, as the fee schedule only notes that it’s “up to 0.9%”. However, this kind of transaction fee for on-demand conversion is quite common for crypto debit cards.
The Binance Card is a Visa debit card that lets you spend the crypto in your Binance wallet. It also claims to offer high cashback rewards rates and low transaction fees.
But is the Binance Card all that it’s cracked up to be? Does it really offer great cashback rewards? And how does it compare to other Bitcoin debit cards?
In this Binance Card review, I’m going to give you my no-nonsense take on everything this card has to offer. From its features and fees to its pros and cons, here’s what you need to know about the Binance Card.
Advantages & Disadvantages
Advantages
- Available to residents in the EEA.
- Connected to your Binance account for easy card top-ups.
- No monthly fees or minimum balance requirements.
- Available as a physical and virtual card.
- Immediate access to your virtual card after you sign up.
- Visa co-branded card that’s widely accepted around the world.
Disadvantages
- Not available in the UK.
- Doesn’t support Apple Pay (only Google Pay & Samsung Pay).
- Supports only a few popular altcoins.
- Many limits and restrictions on cashback rewards programme.
What is the Binance Card?
The Binance Card is a Visa co-branded crypto debit card from Binance, which is one of the most popular cryptocurrency exchanges around.
You can get both a physical and a virtual version of the card. The virtual Binance Card is supported by Google Pay and Samsung Pay (Apple Pay isn’t available).
This card was originally issued by Swipe as the “Swipe Slate Card”, but it rebranded as the “Binance Card” and migrated to the Binance platform in late 2020. Swipe still issues the Binance Card, but the card’s features and services are all provided by Binance.
The Binance Card is a standard crypto-backed debit card that lets you use a select number of supported cryptoassets to pay for your daily transactions. It’s a Euro (EUR) denominated card, so any cryptocurrency that you choose to pay with will get automatically converted into EUR when you swipe or tap your card.
Any crypto that you want to use to pay for your Binance Card transactions needs to be in your Binance Funding Wallet. This is separate from your Spot Wallet on the exchange. But if there isn’t enough funds in your Funding Wallet to cover a purchase, the system will automatically use funds in your Spot Wallet.
You can quickly transfer coins to your Funding Wallet from your Spot Wallet in your Binance account dashboard to top up your card.
If you fund your Binance Card with multiple cryptocurrencies, the card uses a default order to determine which of your crypto it uses first in your transactions.
The good news is that you can manually adjust the sequence of your crypto spending order in your Binance dashboard.
So, if you want to spend BTC first and then ETH, USDT, and BNB, you can adjust your spending sequence as needed.
The Binance Card has a cashback programme that rewards you in Binance Coin (BNB) for every transaction you make.
But while Binance advertises an 8% cashback rewards rate, the truth is more complex.
There are currently 7 rewards levels for the Binance Card:
| Card Level | Average BNB Monthly Balance | Rewards Rate | Maximum Monthly Rewards Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | 0.10% | €5 |
| 2 | 1 | 2% | €100 |
| 3 | 10 | 3% | €150 |
| 4 | 40 | 4% | €200 |
| 5 | 100 | 5% | €275 |
| 6 | 250 | 6% | €350 |
| 7 | 600 | 8% | €500 |
If you don’t have any BNB in your Binance Card account, you get a paltry 0.10% rewards rate. Unlocking the 2% cashback rewards rate isn’t implausible for a lot of investors as it requires maintaining a monthly balance of just 1 BNB.
The 8% rewards rate with the Binance Card, however, requires staking an almost laughable 600 BNB. At the time of writing, this worked out to over £153,000 (€173,000)!
Needless to say, most people won’t get 8% back with the Binance Card and an actual rewards rate of 0.10% to 2% is more realistic.
The catch?
You can only earn up to a certain amount of cashback on purchases made on your Binance Card each month.
If you don’t have any BNB in your account, you can only earn €5 a month. Even someone with 600 BNB (currently equivalent to around €173,000) in their account balance can only accrue a measly €500 worth of rewards each month.
This is horrible.
Ultimately, it’s hard to see the attraction of this cashback rewards programme given all its requirements and limits. You can get better rewards with less red tape at other crypto debit cards.
Key Features of the Binance Card
The Binance Card comes with a handful of helpful features, such as:
- No monthly fees or minimum balance requirements.
- Fees of 0.90% or less on all transactions.
- Support for contactless payments.
- Virtual card available on Google Pay and Samsung Pay.
- Easy card management through your Binance dashboard.
- Convenient card top-up process with your Balance account.
Anyone with a Binance account that lives in a supported country can get a Binance Card.
- Go to your Binance dashboard.
- Click ‘Finance’ and ‘Binance Visa Card’ in the upper part of your screen.
- Complete identity verification and KYC checks.
- Enter the shipping address where you want to receive your physical card.
Once you complete the Binance Card order form and any relevant KYC checks, you’ll be able to activate your virtual card. Your physical card will be sent in the mail to the address provided. It can take up to 45 days for your physical card to arrive.
Supported Countries
The Binance Card is available in EEA countries, Argentina, Bahrain, Brazil, Colombia, GCC, Peru, and Mexico.
It’s not currently available in the UK, but you can get it if you’re from Gibraltar.
Supported Cryptocurrencies
With the Binance Card, you can spend the following cryptocurrencies:
- Bitcoin (BTC)
- Ethereum (ETH)
- Binance Coin (BNB)
- Cardano (ADA)
- Avalanche (AVAX)
- Binance USD (BUSD)
- Polkadot (DOT)
- S. Lazio Fan Token (LAZIO)
- FC Porto Fan Token (PORTO)
- Santos FC Fan Token (SANTOS)
- Shiba Inu (SHIB)
- Swipe Token (SXP)
- Tether (USDT)
- Ripple (XRP)
Binance Card Fees
Binance isn’t very transparent on its fees for the Binance Card.
The Binance website only lists the following fees:
- Transaction Fees: Up to 0.90%
- Reissuance of Physical Card Fee: €25
A 0.90% fee per transaction for the Binance Card isn’t bad (it’s actually quite competitive). But it’s unclear what “up to 0.90%” means here and when you might get lower fees when using the card.
Binance also states that “third-party services and network fees may apply” to your card transactions, though it’s unclear what this actually means and in what situations these extra charges might apply.
Binance Card Limits
There are relatively few limits on the Binance Card:
- Daily Spending Limit (Virtual Card): €870
- Daily Spending Limit (Physical Card): €8,700
- Daily Withdrawal Limit (Physical Card): €290
- Single Contactless Transaction Limit: €50
Binance Card Alternatives
My favourite Binance Card alternative is the CoinJar Card.
The CoinJar Card is a crypto-backed Mastercard debit card from CoinJar that lets you spend 50+ cryptocurrencies. It has a flat 1% fee on all purchases, and it’s available in the UK. Plus, even though you don’t earn cashback rewards with the card, you do earn CoinJar Rewards Points, which can get you lower trading fees on the CoinJar exchange or can be used to get gifts cards and other rewards from its shop.
If cashback rewards are what you seek, consider the Crypto.com Visa Card.
The Crypto.com Visa Card supports 15+ cryptocurrencies and it’s available in the UK, EU, and US, among other countries. You do have to stake Cronos (CRO) to unlock the 5% cashback rewards rate though, and you won’t get any cashback if you don’t feel comfortable staking anything.
The Bottom Line: Binance Card Review
So, what’s the bottom line of this Binance Card review?
- You can get the Binance Card if you’re from a country in the EEA and a number of other countries. Unfortunately, you’re not able to get this in the UK.
- The Binance Card is a “true” crypto debit card, as it converts cryptocurrency on-demand to cover the cost of purchases you’re making. Not all crypto debit cards alternatives work this way.
- There’s not much documention surrounding fees. The most important thing that stood out to me is that you’ll be charged a fee of 0.90% per transaction you make (to cover the cost of selling your cryptocurrency to cover your purchase).
- You can get cashback on your spending, but you can’t unlock the highest rate (8%) without holding hundreds of thousands of EUR worth of BNB in your account. Monthly rewards are capped at some disappointing low sums.
You can head over to the Binance Card website to learn more.
Any Questions?
Thanks for checking out this Binance Card review!
What do you think? Is the Binance Card something you’d consider?
Or do you have a question you want to ask about it?
Let me know in the comments below!