With the booming popularity of exchange-based tokens such as BNB and CRO, I thought it would be smart to take a look at some of the services that those exchanges offer.
Though there is a general sense that decentralization is the ideal for us in the crypto world (and the concept I hope for to see a better world), the fact of the matter is that centralized sources like exchanges make more sense right now to the average person looking to get involved with crypto.
I just recently discussed this with @nirvana3003 actually, we need to be cautious with how much power we give centralized companies, but IMO they can be seen as bridges between traditional finance and the finance of the future (i.e. DEX's and DeFi instruments).
Let's overlook concepts like the Binance Smart Chain or the decentralized platform Crypto.com is launching for now, and let's take a look at the visa card services being offered by the centralized exchange. Which one is better? What are the pros and cons? (note: there may be other crypto debit cards offered by other exchanges, I have chosen these two because Binance is growing rapidly and I own the crypto.com card)
Binance Visa Card
Background:
This is the debit card that is issued by Binance (not Binance.us). Binance was founded in 2017 by Changpeng Zhao and Yi He. They launched their BNB token around then and it is now trading around $600 USD just a few years later.
Pros:
- No processing or transaction fees
- Hold your card balance as crypto (exchange when needed)
- Up to 8% cashback on purchases
- Protected by Binance security protocols
- More cashback if you have more BNB staked
- Accepted at over 60 million merchants around the world
- Daily ATM limits of around 290 EURO
- No minimum needed
- No lockup on your BNB
Cons:
- Not available for US citizens
- $15 fee to get the card
- Does not support all cryptos in holding balance (rumored to only support BTC and BNB)
- KYC required
Crypto.com Visa Card
Background:
Crypto.com was founded in June 2016 by Kris Marszalek (CEO), Rafael Melo (CFO), Gary Or (CTO), and Bobby Bao (Head of Corporate Development). In June 2017, they raised $26.7 million from their Monaco (MCO) initial coin offering. They’re headquartered in Hong Kong and currently have a team of more than 900 people worldwide. - (https://quickpenguin.net/crypto-com-review/)
Pros:
- Available for US citizens
- Amount of cashback increases as you stake more CRO
- Full rebates for Spotify and Netflix at the lowest staking levels
- Numerous partnerships for cashback rebates
- Up to 8% cashback on purchases
- $5000 USD ATM daily limit
- 24/7 customer support (from personal experience, this went pretty well)
- Can be funded with any crypto
- Has all the security of the Crypto.com exchange
Cons:
- Minimum stake of 2500 CRO to get a debit card (around $600, though this price may change due to the high barriers to entry)
- Long wait to get the card
- Long lockup period for staked CRO (6 months for me)
Comparison
Well in America, it's a no brainer to go with the crypto.com card because you can't use the Binance card anyways, but let's be hypothetical.
Investment
It is my belief that BNB has a better chance of succeeding than CRO. This is due to the sheer size and popularity that Binance has over the rest of the market (except Coinbase); this leads me to believe that getting cashback as BNB rather than as CRO is a better option from an investment standpoint.
Binance wins here.
Use/Sign Up
In terms of the ease of use, I have personally found the crypto.com card to be awesome. The Binance card seems to be equally useful but is quite limited in the amount of fiat you are able to gain access to via ATM withdrawal.
Binance does take the win in this category despite this due to the fact that you have to stake $600 worth of CRO for numerous months to get a card on Crypto.com.
Promotions
This one is easily going to crypto.com as they have full rebates on Netflix and Spotify. Additionally the higher ranked cards have rebates on Amazon orders and other large companies products.
Reputation
Both of these cards are reputable and trustworthy, I will give this one a draw.
Customer Service
Binance needs to work on this aspect of their business as I have always struggled with them. Crypto.com did a great job addressing a conversion discrepancy I had while in the Bahamas and were very kind and responsive. I'll give this one to them.
Final Takeaways
Honestly, if you want to get cashback on all of your purchases, you should be choosing the card that is run on the crypto you most believe in. Both cards offer great services and have their drawbacks, but at the end of the day you are banking crypto each time you make a purchase; pick the one you think will moon (probably Binance, not financial advice).
Let me know what your experience has been with either card!
If you enjoyed this article please feel free to reblog/rehive!
@mariosfame gif once again, I love it
Links and Connections:
Follow me on Twitter: Rob_Minnick23
LeoFinance/HIVE : rob23
Join me on Torum: https://www.torum.com/signup?referral_code=robminnick23
Join Cake DeFi and get $30 in $DFI as a new user: https://pool.cakedefi.com/#?ref=187314
Noise.cash: rob23
Read.cash: R23
Join me on Publish0x: https://www.publish0x.com/?a=M7e587xqd2
Who I am:
My name is Rob and I am a college student doing my best to get involved in the crypto world. I have enjoyed blogging thus far and thank you for reading my article! Give me a follow and let’s build the community together through consistent engagement.
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
Yea I live in the US so it means no Binance card for me. Though Binance would be better if we had a choice since I don't exactly trust crypto.com's card. Also since most of your crypto will be stored in the exchanges, you are risking your crypto (incase they decide to pull the rug).
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
I'm a skeptical guy, but I don't find it very likely that either of these groups will pull the rug in the near future, they are doing quite well!
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
I think Binance is fine but I haven't really done much research into crypto.com. I was thinking about a Fold card but the line is so long that I don't think I'll be getting one anytime soon.
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
I'm not familiar with Fold, is that the name of the company issuing it?
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
Its for the Fold app. Its slightly different as you prepay the debit card with fiat to get back BTC for each purchase you do.
I spin it everyday to get some BTC satoshis and haven't really bought any giftcards yet though.
https://foldapp.com/
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
I will check this out now, thanks for the reference!
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
Thanks a lot for this review and comparison.
I didn't know about crypto.com debit card entry barrier. That's a showstopper for me.
In Europe, better said in the SEPA zone, you have two great options. Both are online banking services with the added stock market and crypto exchange functionalities (referral links alert):
Both have zero fees with SEPA transactions and an easy crypto exchange interface with reasonable fees.
Well worth checking out.
Have a great weekend.
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
I'll pass these along to my girlfriend as she is from Europe, I love seeing services like this, traditional banking has no idea how to respond
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
You are welcome. I hope these links will be useful :)
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
I have the Crypto.com Visa card, and am based in Australia, the biggest draw back for me is having to pay exchange fees to convert into SGD as most of the Asia pacific cards are licensed in Singapore.
The exchange fees often exceed the rewards. I know crypto.com is looking to launch in more local currencies to avoid this, I think they already have USD, CAD, GBP.
The good thing about them, is that I get my Spotify fees rebated, which makes it worth it. You did mention Netflix too, but that's only for the mid-tier cards, where you need to stake $1000s.
Great write up, there are other cards too, like BlockFI, seems like everyone is jumping on this bandwagon.
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
Oh wow, I had no idea that was the case in Australia, when I was studying in Sydney I never met anyone who was using a crypto based card, but the proximity to Asia was always very apparent in the CBD area so I can see why there would be a strong connection there for licensing. I hope that they get other currencies soon, because the rewards will be going up in price soon IMO. I also get that it takes a lot to reach the Netflix tier, I don't even have that card I have the lowest one. But if someone has thousands that they were spending with a traditional bank anyways then it makes it worth it to move that money over to the crypto card!
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
I haven't looked into cards yet but I've been looking into CDC's various products today. I just read another post about the products offered by Binance so tomorrow I'll take a look at those and make a comparison.
As time goes on there's just more and more opportunities. 😊
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
I hope you find the option that best suits your goals!
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
Im still waiting for Binance to announce their card here in our Country which is the Philippines.
CRO has also a lot of perks too ;)
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
Realistically I'd use both!
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
rebate is pay back the full subscription or just a discount?
because my neftlix is about 20 usd and amazon the same, that alone is 600 in a year so that staking would not be all that bad
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
It's the full price rebated as CRO for Netflix, not entirely sure what the deal is for Amazon but I imagine it is very similar. However, it does cost a lot now to stake the CRO needed for the netflix and amazon as they are on higher tier cards.
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
Great to see it know !
I was looking for a crypto card. And I really think Binance is the best for me !
Do you know some BNB Milestones to get more cashback ?
Really great post !! Thanks a lot for sharing !
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
I'm not entirely sure if they even have a tiered rewards system. I would take a look at their website, I am not sure with the boom in price if the information would remain the same if you find that they do have a tiered system. It's become quite difficult financially to stack numerous BNB
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
I have both cards but lately, I've only been using Binance one.
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
Any reason specifically? I would guess just the boom in BNB price is a motivator
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
Crypto.com is often laggier than Binance. And yeah, I'm using Binance more so it's a reasonable choice so I don't have to transfer funds all the time.
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
Fair play. Crypto.com has been good for me, but when Binance reaches the US I'll be getting one for sure
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
Great post showing the comparisons and maybe do one on Coti as that is the one I am looking at right now. I am not 100% sure and would be great if you could do that. Not a fan of crypto.com and currently a toss up between Binance and Coti for me.
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
Hmm, I have never heard of Coti before. I'll do more research on it. Is there anything special I should know about it?
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
doing great @rob23! Hope you're noticing your contest votes. Keep it up until at least Monday!
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
Thank you! I have been noticing. My daily goal is to bring in between 5-10 leo and knowing that your votes are coming gives me the confidence that I'll be able to reach those goals! Thanks again!
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
Thanks for the quick overview of these cards @rob23. Binance is all over the place and I feel they are trying to catch every wave. I feel this is subjective to the availability of services & perks from country to country.
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
For sure, I just wanted to take a look at two big names. I think there are probably a lot of similar cards out there that people can find depending on their needs and location!
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
Great choices there. I think I will get a Binance Card first in my country before anything else.
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
Congratulations @rob23! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Your next target is to reach 4000 upvotes.
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPSupport the HiveBuzz project. Vote for our proposal!
I think Binance is fine)))
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
I think that apps or wallets are more effective than these cards, of course they also have their pros and cons but as we move forward we will find cheaper and easier ways to move crypto money.
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
I keep my Pluto card. 3% cashback up to 250 USD spending every month. No fee. I can take premieum to get no limit spending but I like this no fee card.
I like it because I can put fiat or crypto in it. And it is an in build DEX.
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta