Choosing a Crypto Card for Travel
Abroad, the FX fee and the ATM allowance matter far more than the cashback rate. What to check before you travel, and the traps that catch crypto cards specifically.
Cashback is what cards advertise. Abroad, it is rarely the number that decides what a trip costs you.
Check the FX fee first
The fee charged when you spend in another currency varies more between cards than the cashback does:
- Wirex One — 0.35%
- Bitpanda, Gnosis Pay, Xapo — no markup of their own
- Exa — 1.5%
- Plutus, Holyheld — 2.5%
- Blackcatcard, Fold — 3%
Watch for fees that change with your tier or your activity. Shakepay charges 3% at its base status and nothing at its top one. Revolut is free only up to a monthly allowance, then applies a fair-usage fee.
Then the conversion cost
This is the trap specific to crypto cards. A card can advertise 0% FX and still cost you on every purchase, because your crypto has to become spendable currency first.
Ask what that conversion costs. Some cards charge nothing. 1inch charges 1.75% plus a 2% card-spend fee. Uphold applies a spread of roughly 0.5% on stablecoins and 0.8–1.2% on BTC, ETH or XRP.
The cheapest cards abroad are usually the ones you fund with a stablecoin before you travel, so the conversion happens once, at a rate you can see.
Cash, if you need it
If you expect to use ATMs, check three things: the free allowance, the fee after it, and the per-withdrawal cap.
- Gnosis Pay — 5 free withdrawals or €200 a month, then 2%
- Xapo — $100 a month free, then 2%
- Fold — $3.50 per withdrawal outside its network
- Bitrefill — 2.49%, no allowance
Virtual-only cards give no cash access at all, which rules out Solid, MEXC Global and Kolo as a sole travel card.
Deposits and holds
Hotels, car rental desks and fuel pumps place a hold on your card that can be larger than the final bill and can sit there for days. On a prepaid or virtual card that money is simply unavailable while the hold lasts, and some merchants refuse those cards for deposits entirely. Our guide to hotel deposits covers what to expect.
Carry a second card for exactly this reason.
Before you go
- Confirm the card works in the country you are visiting — availability is not the same as acceptance
- Fund it before you travel, so conversion happens at a rate you chose
- Check the ATM allowance if you expect to need cash
- Tell the issuer your travel dates, if the app allows it
- Take a backup card for deposits and holds
You can compare the FX and ATM figures for every card we track on the fees table, and the Card Finder filters by the country you live in.
Common questions
Does 0% FX really mean no cost abroad?
Not always. Some cards charge no markup of their own but still apply a spread when converting your crypto to spendable currency, and that conversion can cost more than an FX fee would.
Can I use a crypto card at a hotel or car rental desk?
Often, but a pre-authorisation hold can lock funds for days. Prepaid and virtual cards are refused more often than debit cards for deposits.
Which is cheaper abroad: paying by card or withdrawing cash?
Paying by card, almost always. ATM withdrawals add a fee or a percentage on top of any conversion cost, and cash withdrawals rarely earn cashback.
Cards mentioned in this article
Card figures referenced here come from each issuer's published terms and each card page shows when its data was last verified — see our methodology for how, and the changelog for what has changed since. Rewards and availability vary by region and move often. Not financial advice.