The real cashback of crypto cards

We ran all 11 crypto cards in our index through the same cashback engine at a representative $2,000/mo spend, United States to see how much of the marketed cashback actually survives fees, spend caps and FX. These figures update automatically as cards and rates change.

What we found

• The average card advertises 2.8% but returns just 1.5% once real costs are counted, roughly 46.5% of the headline evaporates.
• The biggest gap: RedotPay Card markets 3.0% but effectively pays -0.6% at this spend level.
• 2 of 11 cards charge no FX markup on non-USD spend, meaning most add a foreign-transaction cost that can outweigh their cashback.
• 3 of 11cards pay at least one plan's cashback in a volatile native token rather than a stablecoin, so the real value depends on that token's price.
• 6 of 11 are self-custodial, so you spend from your own wallet rather than trusting the issuer to hold your funds.

Method: each card is evaluated at $2,000/mo spend, United States using our published methodology by stacking cashback bands, subtracting fees and region-based FX, and applying a conservative staking-cost assumption. Want your own numbers? Use the calculator.