Self-Custody Crypto Cards in 2026: ether.fi, MetaMask, Wirex and What Replaces Gnosis Pay
By the MyCardCrypto team · Updated 21 October 2026 · Fees checked on 21 October 2026
Self-custody crypto cards spend from a wallet you control, not an exchange account. Main options on 21 October 2026: ether.fi Cash, MetaMask Card (no new US sign-ups), Wirex One and Avici. Gnosis Pay’s card stops on 20 December.
Best for: USDC or ETH holders who want card payments without an exchange account.
Not for: anyone hoping to skip ID checks, or unwilling to guard their own wallet access.
Our pick: ether.fi Cash (7.5/10) for most US, UK and EU readers; Wirex One (6/10) in Europe for an exportable key; Avici (7/10) outside the EU and UK. This is not financial advice.
We may earn a commission if you apply through links on this page.
What self-custody means for a crypto card
Visa and Mastercard settle in ordinary money, so something converts your crypto when you pay. What differs is where the coins wait until then: in the company’s account with a custodial card, or in a wallet or contract that only you can sign for with a self-custodial one. Issuers build the second kind in three ways.
- A spending allowance. MetaMask Card has you approve a spending cap on a token in your own account: “You do not need to top-up your card or move funds out of your wallet”. You can revoke the cap at any time. Phantom’s US card also pays from your wallet: its partner “draws CASH from your Cash account” when you pay.
- A smart account you own. ether.fi Cash pays from a Safe-based Vault signed by a key in Turnkey’s secure enclaves, and Gnosis Pay uses a Safe on Gnosis Chain. Avici keeps USDC in an escrow contract that, per its docs, neither Avici, Visa nor the issuer controls.
- A loaded card balance. Tangem Pay’s wallet is non-custodial, but its card is a separate Rain programme: “you can only spend the balance loaded on the card”, which Tangem says sits in “a smart contract account that you control”.
Some things stay the same. Every card here that is open to sign-ups checks your identity, often through the card partner: Crypto Life runs MetaMask’s KYC, and MetaMask “will not have access” to those details. Your spending wallet is a public address. And the issuer can still freeze the card; the difference is that it does not hold your coins.
The cards compared: fees, custody, regions and status
Fees checked on 21 October 2026 in each issuer’s help centre, fee table, terms and card page; entry tier shown. Gnosis Pay figures come from its fee page as read on 8 October 2026.
| Card (entry tier) | Card fee | Foreign spend fee | Cashback | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ether.fi Cash (Core) | No annual fee; plastic $50 (another page: free plus shipping); first virtual $10 in 14 countries | 0.5% on top of the base rate; none on USD or EUR | 3% to $2,000 a month in ETHFI ($800 on euro spend) | Open |
| MetaMask Card (Virtual) | Free; Metal orders paused | 1% cross-border fee | 1% in mUSD | Open; US sign-ups paused |
| Wirex One (Base) | $0; virtual card only | Listed as free | 0.5% in USD; $25 a month redeemable | Open; not in the US |
| Avici (Platinum) | First virtual card $15 | 0% markup; Visa may add 0.4–1% | None | Open; no EU or UK |
| Tangem Pay (Basic) | Free virtual card | Markup not published | 1%, up to $100 a month | Open; top tier waitlisted |
| Phantom card | Not published | Not published | None stated | Open in the US, not New York |
| Gnosis Pay | Free card order | No markup, Visa rate | Ended 30 September 2026 | Card stops 20 December 2026 |
Two lines hide a contradiction. MetaMask’s FAQ says the card “doesn’t charge any additional fees” on foreign exchange, but its fee table lists 1% for merchants outside your country; we show the table. Wirex lists foreign transactions as “Free”, while clause 9.10 of its terms allows mark-ups. Phantom’s Cash page says only “Fees may apply”.
| Card | Where your money waits | Card issuer | Sign-up regions |
|---|---|---|---|
| ether.fi Cash | Safe-based Vault you sign for; no key export yet | Third National (Visa) | 88 countries, plus Belgium and Ireland (virtual only); 30 US states and DC |
| MetaMask Card | Your MetaMask account, up to an approved cap | Monavate via Crypto Life (Mastercard); Immersve in the UK | 48 countries; US waitlist |
| Wirex One | Wallet with Privy-managed keys; key exportable | Wirex Limited, an FCA e-money firm (Novatti in Australia and NZ); Visa or Mastercard | 73 countries; not the US |
| Avici | USDC escrow contract; Solana key exportable | Third National (Visa); Rain infrastructure | 49 countries and 31 US states |
| Tangem Pay | Loaded card balance in a contract account Tangem says you control; wallet separate | Rain (Visa) | Some US states; parts of LatAm, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, Africa |
| Phantom card | Self-custodial Cash wallet on Solana | Stripe since 5 October (help centre); Lead Bank (Cash page); Visa | US except New York |
| Gnosis Pay | Safe on Gnosis Chain | Monavate (Visa) | EEA, UK, Switzerland, Latin America; closing |
How we checked
We read each issuer’s help centre, fee table, terms and card page on 21 October 2026. Among the cards compared here, our first-hand experience is limited to a virtual Avici Signature card we keep as a backup and the old, custodial Wirex app we used from 2021 to mid-2026; we have not held the others. Some links earn us a commission: see our affiliate disclosure and editorial policy.
ether.fi Cash: a credit card that pays from your own Vault
Best for: people in the US, UK or most of the EU who hold USDC or ETH and want cashback.
ether.fi Cash is a Visa Signature credit card issued by Third National. Direct Pay takes USDC, then LiquidUSD, from your Vault with no interest; Borrow pledges your coins and pays through Aave v4 at a floating rate, with “no grace period”.
Core is free and pays 3% cashback on the first $2,000 a month, then 1% to $3,000 and 0.5% above, in the ETHFI token; purchases settled in euros get 3% only on the first $800 (USD equivalent), then 1% to $1,500 and 0.1% above. Dollar and euro purchases carry no FX fee (euros are a beta feature); other currencies add 0.5% on Core, 0.25% on Luxe ($199 a year) and none on Pinnacle ($999). ATM withdrawals go up to $5,000 each, five per 24 hours; the Core ATM fee is unpublished.
The physical card ships to 88 countries, including the UK, Switzerland and 22 EU states (Belgium and Ireland get a virtual card only; the Netherlands, Finland and Estonia are missing), and to 30 US states plus DC. KYC applies “to all users without exception”.
From our ether.fi Cash review (7.5/10): there is no key export yet, the documentation says “ether.fi is not a regulated financial institution”, and the card can be suspended “with or without giving you notice”.
Wirex One: an exportable key, but no US cards
Best for: EEA and UK residents who want a free virtual card and a wallet key they can take elsewhere.
Wirex relaunched in 2026 as Wirex One. Clause 2.2 of its terms says the company “does not provide custodial services in respect of your digital assets”: keys come from Privy, sign-in uses email and a passkey, and you can export the private key to MetaMask or Phantom. Regulated USD, EUR and GBP accounts sit beside the wallet, and the debit card has no credit line.
There is no monthly or annual fee, and foreign transactions are listed as “Free”. Cashback is paid in US dollars, from 0.5% on Base to 8% on Bespoke; higher tiers need a bigger portfolio with a share in the WPAY token. Base gets a virtual card only and lets you redeem $25 a month. The card covers 73 countries after an ID check, not the US.
We used the old, custodial Wirex app from 2021 to mid-2026, so nothing here about the new app is first-hand. Our Wirex One review scores it 6/10, held back by unpublished ATM and card fees and a bumpy relaunch.
Avici: an escrow contract you control, outside the EU and UK
Best for: USDC holders in its 31 US states, Latin America or Asia-Pacific who can do without cashback.
Avici is a secured Visa credit card issued by Third National. Your USDC sits in an escrow contract; the docs say “neither Third National or Avici or Visa controls the loan contract”, and only your wallet can withdraw what you have not spent. The Solana side of the app has an exportable key; the EVM side is a smart wallet without one.
Platinum has no annual fee, but the first virtual card costs $15; Signature costs $30, then $20 a year. There is no FX markup (Visa may add 0.4–1%) and no cashback. Sign-ups cover 49 countries and 31 US states, with no EU or UK country on the list.
We keep a virtual Avici Signature card as a backup. The friction is the two-step flow: the card spends only what you top up to its spending balance, so an empty balance means a declined payment.
On 28 August 2026 a flaw in an outdated Rain card contract drained $500,800 from 1,685 Avici users’ card balances, not their wallets, CoinDesk reported. Refunds were promised; we have not seen confirmation that all were paid. Our Avici review rates it 7/10.
Referral code QF3VW9: enter it before your ID check is approved; after ordering a card and passing verification you get $8 instead of the standard $5. A promo code on the order cancels that bonus.
Tangem Pay, Phantom and the rest: live, invite-only or gone
Six more names come up in searches for self-custody crypto cards. Their status on 21 October 2026:
- Tangem Pay (live, hybrid). A Rain-issued Visa card in the Tangem Wallet app, for the US (not every state) and selected countries in Latin America, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa. You top up the card with USDC or USDT (Polygon, Base, BNB Chain or Arbitrum) or a US bank transfer, so you spend a card balance, not your wallet. Basic is free, with 1% cashback up to $100 a month, a 4% ATM fee and an unpublished FX markup; Plus costs $29.99 a month.
- Phantom (live in the US). A virtual Visa debit card for US residents outside New York, paid from your self-custodial Cash wallet on Solana after an ID check. Since 5 October cards are being replaced as Stripe takes over from Bridge. The daily limit is $2,000 (up to $5,000 after review), and card fees are not published.
- Holyheld (invite only). Personal membership is CHF 0 “by invitation”; no card network, countries or card fees are published, and its Terms page returned a 404.
- Zeal (closing). Its cards run on Gnosis Pay, whose help centre says Zeal’s card services end by 20 December 2026; Zeal’s homepage still advertised up to 4% cashback on 21 October.
- Solflare (paused). Cards stopped on 28 July 2026 after issuing partner Kulipa “struggled to keep its operations going”, and by 21 October the help centre had announced no relaunch. Funds stayed in users’ wallets, Solflare says.
- Trust Wallet (no card). trustwallet.com/card returned a 404 on 21 October 2026 and we found no official launch, so treat “Trust Wallet card” offers elsewhere with suspicion.
Gnosis Pay is closing: what to do before 20 December 2026
Gnosis Pay is ending its consumer card “to focus fully on our enterprise card programs”. Its formal notice of 21 September 2026 says the card and web app stop at 23:59 UTC on 20 December 2026; GNO cashback ended on 30 September. Your money is unaffected: “Your Safe is self-custodial and the assets in it remain yours”, with no withdrawal deadline.
- Sign in now with the wallet that owns your Safe; if that wallet is lost, nobody can recover the funds.
- Download your card history before 20 December; later it takes a formal data request.
- Move subscriptions yourself, because the company cannot transfer them.
- Pick a successor: Rebind for euro accounts (account, IBAN and card carry over with no new ID check), Picnic in Brazil or a new MiniPay account for dollars. Pound accounts had no official route on 21 October.
- Or withdraw: the withdrawal page stays open after the cut-off. You need xDAI in the owner wallet for two transactions and your own Gnosis Chain address, not an exchange’s.
Rebind and MiniPay are new card programmes with their own terms and fees. To leave the Gnosis stack, ether.fi Cash is the closest match in the UK and most of the EU. Dates and the full checklist are in our Gnosis Pay shutdown guide.
What you give up compared with a custodial card
A self-custody card moves some risks from the company to you. From the issuers’ own documents:
- Chargebacks remain for card purchases. Wirex One’s terms let you “request a chargeback” under card scheme rules, but its Pay-to-Card transfers to other cards are final: “chargeback rights applicable to card purchases do not apply”. MetaMask sends chargebacks to Crypto Life; ether.fi disputes can take up to 60 days; Avici charges a non-refundable $35 to dispute a payment over $30.
- Recovery is limited. Lose the wallet that owns a Gnosis Pay Safe and the funds “can’t be recovered by anyone, including us”. When we checked on 8 October, ether.fi charged $50 to restore Vault access after a lost email, a process of up to 60 days. Wirex warns that “losing both device and password means losing access”.
- Some steps cost gas. Each new MetaMask spending cap is an on-chain approval, and a Gnosis Pay withdrawal takes two transactions paid in xDAI.
- Contract and issuer risk remain. A June 2026 exploit of Gnosis Pay’s Safe modules took about $1.5 million, which Gnosis covered. Solflare’s card stopped when its issuing partner struggled, and Phantom is replacing its Bridge-issued cards as it changes issuer.
- KYC records and taxes stay. Gnosis Pay and Avici both keep KYC data for 5 years. Paying with a token can count as selling it; our crypto card guide covers tax basics.
If that is too much work, a custodial card is simpler. KAST, which we use for most stablecoin spending, pays 1.5% in US dollars on the first $2,000 a month on its free Standard tier. Its terms say deposits are “sold to KAST”, but an optional Self-Custody Mode (since 14 September 2026) holds your USD balance as USDC in a Privy wallet, with key export “coming soon”. See our full review of the card and our three-card comparison.
Promo code LBY9BQVJ: 10% off a first paid membership (Standard is free).
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a non-custodial crypto card?
A debit or credit card that pays from a wallet or smart contract you control, not from a balance an exchange holds for you. Your crypto is converted only when you pay. A regulated partner such as Monavate, Third National or Rain still issues the card, so an identity check remains.
Is MetaMask Card available in the US?
Not for new users. On 21 October 2026 the help centre said MetaMask had “temporarily paused new Card sign-ups in the United States”, with a waitlist and no restart date. Existing US cards still work, and only US cardholders can withdraw cash. ether.fi Cash and Avici accept US sign-ups.
Do you need KYC for a self-custody card?
Yes, for every card here that accepts sign-ups. Crypto Life checks MetaMask users, ether.fi verifies “all users without exception”, and Wirex One, Tangem Pay and Phantom verify cardholders. Phantom’s wallet and the Wirex One wallet work without ID, but their cards do not.
Is Gnosis Pay shutting down?
Yes. The card and web app stop at 23:59 UTC on 20 December 2026, and GNO cashback ended on 30 September. Money in your Safe stays yours, with no withdrawal deadline. Euro accounts can move to Rebind, dollar accounts to Picnic (in Brazil) or MiniPay; pound accounts had no official route on 21 October.
Can you get a chargeback on a self-custody card?
For card purchases, usually yes: Visa and Mastercard dispute rules still apply. MetaMask passes chargebacks to Crypto Life, Wirex One follows scheme rules, Phantom wants disputes within 60 days, and Avici charges $35 for a dispute over $30. Transfers you send from your wallet are final.
Which self-custody cards work in the US?
On 21 October 2026: ether.fi Cash in 30 states plus Washington, DC; Avici in 31 states; Phantom’s virtual card everywhere except New York; and Tangem Pay in some states, though it spends a loaded card balance. MetaMask has paused new US sign-ups, and Wirex One’s card does not cover the US.
Does Trust Wallet have a card?
We found none. On 21 October 2026 trustwallet.com/card returned a 404, and a web search showed no official launch, only a site on another domain using a similar name. For a card that pays from your own wallet, look at MetaMask Card, ether.fi Cash, Wirex One, Avici or Phantom.