If you live in Singapore, you would have, by now, seen the Crypto.com with Matt Damon’s ad on TV, and also along the MRT stations. Now, should you apply for their Visa card?
There is a quick glance of the different card tiers available.
I won’t compare the benefits between tiers, as you can just head on to crypto.com for the comparison.
Why did I apply for a Crypto.com Visa card?
One simple reason, I wanted to be able to spend the crypto or stable coins that I have earned from DEFI platforms. You can read an example of how I spend my stable coins using Crypto.com Visa Card.
You can use this card as a way to off ramp your crypto into legal tender dollar that you can spend in everyday life.
Where can you use the Crypto.com Visa card?
You can use it at anywhere that accepts Visa, Paywave in Singapore. I have used it in retail malls, online platforms like Shoppe, taxi rides, MRT/Bus rides. It’s like how you would use a Visa credit card. The transactions are deducted and reflected on your app instantly.
There is one minor caveat, for cards that issued in Singapore, you can’t use them for international purchase yet. This is due some licensing issue with the SG card issuer (which is not Crypto.com). This also explains why you can’t pay your Spotify with the Crypto.com card, because the payment processor is in Sweden.
You can still be reimbursed for it, if your card comes with the free Spotify benefit. Simply submit your receipt via support, and you will be reimbursed for it.
Which Card Tier should you go with?
I started out with the Ruby Steel card. By staking SGD$500 worth of CRO, I can get a 2% CRO reward cashback. This means that for every purchase I made using the card, I get 2% cashback in terms of CRO. On top of that, I get free Spotify (reimbursed back to me in CRO).
I have since upgraded to the Royal Indigo card. This is because the existing CRO that I bought, have increased in value to the point that I could upgrade the card without buying more CRO.
By staking SGD$5,000 worth of CRO, you get 3% cashback in terms of CRO, Netflix and Spotify reimbursement in CRO, and on top that, you get a 10% rewards on the CRO that you have staked.
Honestly, if I will to fork out SGD$5,000 for the Royal Indigo card, I would not have applied for it.
Personally, I think Ruby Steel card is a good one to start out with. But if you don’t want to pay for the card, then you can definitely go with the midnight blue card.
Topping up the card
For me, I don’t top up the card using SGD. I top up using USDC that I have earned from my DEFI platforms, and convert those to SGD. The exchange rate is not the best but similar to bank rates.
However, it is a different story if you are topping up using SGD. First of all, you cannot top up SGD directly using StraitsX yet. So this means that you have to convert your SGD to USD. There are 2 ways to do this.
- You can convert your SGD to USD via bank rates. Then deposit USD directly into Crytpo.com App, and this will be deposited as USDC. In order to top up your card, you have to then convert the USDC back to SGD.
- You can deposit SGD via StraitsX into Crypto.com App. Then convert XSGD to USDC in the app. In order to top up your card, you have to then convert the USDC back to SGD.
You will lose out a lot in this scenario because you have to do the FX exchange twice: From SGD -> USDC, then USDC back to SGD to top up.
You can also top up using credit or debit cards, but there are fees involve.
Limits to Crypto.com Visa Card
This applies to SG Crypto.com Visa Card. Under the MAS payment service Act, the max balance you can hold in your card is SGD$5,000. The max amount you can spend from your card is SGD$30,000 annually.
For more info, you can refer to this article.
Should you apply for a Crypto.com Visa Card?
It really depends on your usage. If you already have USDC or any other stable coins that you want to spend, I will highly recommend getting one.
But if you need to use SGD to top up your Crypto.com visa card, I won’t recommend it at the moment. Simply because you have to do the FX exchange twice. You should wait until StraitsX SGD top up is in place.
But then again, I heard that it takes a ages now for application of the card to go through, so maybe you can apply first, and when StraitsX SGD top up is ready, then start using the card.
By the way, if you don’t already have a Crypto.com card, you can use this referral link https://crypto.com/app/pprss4c66a to sign up for Crypto.com and we both get $25 USD when you stake for a Ruby card and above.