CoinJar Card Review
Summary
The CoinJar Card is one of the best crypto debit cards that I’ve checked out.
It automatically converts any of the 50+ that CoinJar supports to cover purchases that you make (in-store and online) with the CoinJar Card.
You’re charged a fee of 1% for this, but you’ll earn 200 CoinJar Reward Points for every £100 you spend. These can be redeemed to cover fees when buying cryptocurrency on CoinJar in the future (1 point = £0.01 of fee reduction).
The CoinJar Card is a crypto-backed Mastercard debit card that lets you use your crypto to pay for goods and services around the world.
But how does the CoinJar Card work? How does it compare with other similar cards like the Coinbase Card? Is it the best crypto debit card on the market?
In this CoinJar Card review, I’ll answer these questions and the benefits that the card offers (as well as fees, features, and limits).
Advantages & Disadvantages
Advantages
- Low transaction fees (1%).
- No card issuance fees or monthly account fees.
- Earn 2 CoinJar Rewards Points for every £1 spent.
- Easy way to spend the crypto in your CoinJar account.
- Offers both a digital and a physical card.
Disadvantages
- Relatively low transaction limits.
- Doesn’t offer cashback, only rewards points.
- Foreign transaction fee of 2.99% when buying in foreign (i.e., non-card) currency.
What is the CoinJar Card?
The CoinJar Card is a prepaid Mastercard. It’s available as both a physical and a digital card so you can use your crypto balances to pay for your daily purchases wherever Mastercard is accepted.
With the CoinJar Card, you can select any cryptocurrency in your CoinJar account to use for your purchases.
This means that you don’t have to keep any British Pounds (GBP) in your account to make payments. Rather, when you swipe your card, CoinJar will automatically convert your chosen cryptocurrency into GBP at the current market rate to cover the cost of your purchase.
Key Features of the CoinJar Card
With the CoinJar Card, you get an easy way to pay for goods and services using your crypto balance.
Here are some other key features of the CoinJar Card:
- No monthly fees or account minimums.
- Simple fee structure (1% fee on all domestic purchases).
- Offers 2 CoinJar Rewards points per £1 spent.
- Supports contactless payments.
- Compatible with Google Pay (Apple Pay coming soon).
- Supports overseas purchases.
- Can use the CoinJar App to manage or freeze your card.
One of the biggest benefits of the CoinJar Card is that it allows you to hold your crypto until the moment you need to spend it to cover the cost of a purchase.
However, keep in mind that using the CoinJar Card (or any other crypto-backed debit card) can cause some tax complications.
That’s because every purchase you make with the CoinJar Card involves selling some of your cryptoassets for GBP. In the UK, this creates a taxable event – as you’re charged capital gains taxes on cryptoasset sales.
If you’re not already using something to track your cryptocurrency activity, then I recommend checking out CoinTracking.info or Koinly.
Anyone with an active CoinJar account in the UK can order a CoinJar Card.
If you don’t already have a CoinJar account, here over here to create one.
To order your CoinJar Card:
- Go to the ConJar App.
- Click the ‘Card’ tab.
- Select whether you also want a digital and physical card or just a digital CoinJar card.
- Verify and confirm your personal information and phone number.
- Review and agree to the terms and conditions.
- Press ‘Confirm’.
- Add your CoinJar card to your mobile wallet via Google Pay (Apple Pay coming soon).
Once you complete these steps, your digital CoinJar Card will be immediately activated and ready for you to use.
Your physical card will be sent out soon afterwards to your UK address (the card can’t be sent overseas). It might take about a week to arrive.
Once you get that, you’ll then need to activate it in the CoinJar App.
Supported Countries
Like CoinJar’s crypto trading platform, the CoinJar Card is only available in the UK and Australia.
Supported Cryptocurrencies
You can spend any cryptocurrency in your CoinJar account using the CoinJar Card.
CoinJar now supports more than 50 cryptocurrencies. You can find the full list of supported assets here.
You can quickly change this on-demand using the CoinJar mobile app.
CoinJar Card Fees
The CoinJar Card has a simple fee structure.
There are no card issuance, card replacement, or monthly management fees when you use the CoinJar Card.
The only fees you’ll regularly pay with the CoinJar Card are:
- Purchases: 1% fee
- Foreign Transaction Fee: 2.99% fee
- ATM Withdrawal: 1% fee
These fees are a lot competitive when compared to the Coinbase Card, which charges a minimum of 2.49% for each transaction.
On top of that, CoinJar offers you 2 rewards points for every £1 you spend.
These reward points can be redeemed to pay for exchange fees when buying cryptocurrencies using CoinJar in the future (at a rate of 1 point per £0.01 of fee reduction).
This is a pretty sweet deal. It means that for every £100 you spend using the CoinJar Card, you’ll able to buy £200 worth of a cryptocurrency on CoinJar without paying any fees.
You can also redeem these points for gift cards (e.g., Amazon, Just Eat), as well as other things.
When you make a purchase using the CoinJar Card, it automatically converts a specified cryptocurrency into GBP to cover the cost of the purchase.
If you subsequently get a refund, you’ll receive the GBP value of the refund to your CoinJar account. It will NOT be refunded in cryptocurrency.
Similar crypto debit cards, like the Coinbase Card, handle refunds in the same way.
CoinJar charges a £12.50 fee to file a transaction dispute.
This is cheaper than what you get at some other crypto-backed credit cards, but it’s still a sizable fee.
CoinJar Card Limits
There are a few important spending limits to keep in mind if you use the CoinJar Card.
These include:
| Type | Limit |
|---|---|
| Maximum Daily Transactions | 25 |
| Maximum Daily Spend | £5,000 |
| Maximum Monthly Spend | £15,000 |
| Maximum Annual Spend | £50,000 |
| Maximum Daily ATM Withdrawals | 5 |
| Minimum Single ATM Withdrawal Amount | £10 |
| Maximum Daily ATM Withdrawal Amount | £2,000 |
These limits will likely be good enough for most people.
That said, its daily, monthly, and annual spending limits are less than what you get with the Coinbase Card and the Crypto.com Visa card.
But the CoinJar Card offers a larger ATM withdrawal limit than the competition, so it’s convenient if you regularly want to swap your crypto for cash.
CoinJar Card Alternatives
The CoinJar Card is the latest addition to the rapidly growing world of crypto-backed debit cards, so you have plenty of alternatives to choose from.
The Coinbase Card is the closest alternative to the CoinJar Card that’s available in the UK.
It works in much the same way as the CoinJar Card.
And although it offers higher transaction limits, the transaction fees are more expensive (2.49%) and it only lets you spend a handful of cryptocurrencies.
Find Out MoreCoinbase Card Review
I think a better alternative is the Crypto.com Visa Card.
However, it doesn’t work the same as the CoinJar Card.
Instead of auto-converting cryptocurrency in your account on-demand to cover your purchase, you’ll need to manually top-up the card with cash or (a small number of) cryptocurrencies.
But on the plus side?
You can earn up to 5% cashback, as well as other rewards – like rebates on Spotify and Netflix memberships).
But there is a catch:
Accessing the Crypto.com Visa card’s highest rewards level requires staking a lot of Cronos (CRO) – about £300,000 at the time of writing. You can get the card without staking any CRO, but you won’t get any cashback (or other benefits) if you do that.
Plus, while you’re not charged any explicit fees for using the card, Crypto.com’s exchange rates aren’t very competitive.
Download Mobile AppCrypto.com Review
For more alternatives, check out my roundup of the best bitcoin debit cards.
The Bottom Line: The Best Bitcoin Debit Card?
I was excited to hear about the release of the CoinJar Card in the UK.
And even though it joins a growing list of other crypto-backed debit card, it’s easily one of the best crypto debit cards that I’ve checked out.
Here are three things I liked about the CoinJar Card:
- On-Demand Conversions: The CoinJar Card can automatically converts any cryptocurrency you have stored in the CoinJar app to cover your purchases. Many other ‘crypto debit cards’ don’t work this way.
- Low Fees: CoinJar Card’s 1% fee on domestic transactions is an excellent deal when compared to the rates you get elsewhere.
- Rewards Opportunities: For each £1 you spend with your CoinJar Card, you earn 2 CoinJar Rewards Points. You can then use your points to get waived trading fees when you buy or sell crypto on CoinJar (1 point = £0.01 of fee reduction) and buy gift cards.
The biggest downside to the card is its relatively low transaction limits when compared to other crypto-backed debit cards on the market. But these limits will probably be more than sufficient for most people – so I don’t consider this a deal-breaker.
Head over to their website to learn more.
Any Questions?
Thanks for checking out this CoinJar Card review!
Got a question about it?
Let me know in the comments section below!