cashback

cards on this page: 9 · issuing today (excl. watch list): 8 · verified or reported facts: 78% · direct on-chain BTC top-up: 1

quick picks

the highest documented rate under $500/month spend Gemini Credit Card - 4% in BTC on the first $300/month (then 1%), $0 annual fee, 0% FX - the strongest small-budget earn in the market
uncapped sats on everything, zero conditions to model Fold Bitcoin Debit Card - 0.25% base rate in BTC, no cap, no Reserve required - the flat floor all the gated rates get compared against

Short answer: Net bitcoin cashback is headline rate times eligible spend, minus the conversion spread, minus the tax - and the cap decides which card wins. Gemini's 4% band wins small budgets; ether.fi's 3% ladder wins $2,000+ months; Fold's flat 0.25% wins everything irregular. Read the cap before the rate.

#	Card	Bitcoin in	BTC sold	KYC	Monthly	Cashback	Score
1	Cash App Card BTC via in-app conversionLightningPhysical card	BTC via in-app conversion	You sell manually in the app	Full KYC	none	none	7	Inspect
2	Krak Card (Kraken) BTC via in-app conversionPhysical card0% FX	BTC via in-app conversion	BTC sold per transaction	Full KYC	none	2% BTC	7	Inspect
3	Fold Bitcoin Debit Card BTC via in-app conversionPhysical card0% FX	BTC via in-app conversion	BTC sold per transaction	Full KYC	none	none	6.9	Inspect
4	Fold Bitcoin Credit Card BTC via in-app conversionPhysical card0% FX	BTC via in-app conversion	BTC sold per transaction	Full KYC	none	1.5% BTC	6.8	Inspect
5	Crypto.com Visa Signature Credit Card BTC via in-app conversionPhysical card	BTC via in-app conversion	Not documented	Full KYC	none	1.5% BTC	6.4	Inspect
6	Gemini Credit Card Earns BTC cashbackPhysical card0% FX	No direct BTC load	Not documented	Full KYC	none	4% BTC	5.4	Inspect
7	Bitso Card BTC via in-app conversion0% FXverify	BTC via in-app conversion	Not documented	Full KYC	?	none	n/a	Inspect
8	Coinbase One Card Earns BTC cashback0% FX	No direct BTC load	Not documented	Full KYC	?	4% BTC	n/a	Inspect
9	Ledger CL Card Direct BTC top-up (on-chain)Physical card0% FX	Direct BTC top-up (on-chain)	BTC sold per transaction	Full KYC	?	1% BTC	n/a	Inspect

"Best bitcoin cashback site" is a claim about arithmetic, not plastic. The headline rate is an ad; the product is the effective rate - headline times your eligible spend after caps, minus the spread on your load, minus the tax event per reward lot. That number is different for every user, and the operators' landing pages are engineered so you never compute it. This page computes it on documented terms: the same card population as the earn hub, through the net-yield lens.

9 cards pay rewards in bitcoin. 4 of them publish a cap; the median documented earn sits near ~1.75%. Four documented gate types decide everything else - flat floors, spend bands, balance ladders, membership bands - and each one changes who wins at your spending curve.

From headline to net: the cap, the gate, the spread and the pending period between marketing and your wallet.

The four gate types, priced

Flat uncapped

Flat uncapped - Fold's 0.25% base with no cap and no Reserve requirement, BTC per eligible transaction after a 30-day pending period [1][2]. The benchmark every other structure has to beat at your spending level: at $500/month it pays $12.50/year; at $6,000/month, $150/year - and no modeling needed to know it.

Monthly spend bands

Monthly spend bands - Gemini's 4% on the first $300/month, then 1% [3]. The strongest bottom-of-curve rate published anywhere in this market, and the correct first card for nearly every budget under ~$1,200/month. Above the band, it is a 1% card.

Balance ladders

Balance ladders - Krak pays 0-2% across five tiers keyed to 30-day average balance, from Starter at zero [5]; Nexo requires $5,000+ in assets before Credit Mode pays anything, then 2% in NEXO tokens or 0.5% in BTC at Platinum, capped at $200/month [5]; Fold's boosts key to Reserve balances from $15,000 [1]. These structures pay existing custody, not spending.

Card	Cashback	CB cap	FX	Monthly	KYC	Custody
Cash App Card	-	-	3%	$0/mo	Full KYC	custodial
Krak Card (Kraken)	2% cash (GBP/EUR) or BTC	none documented	-	$0/mo	Full KYC	custodial
Fold Bitcoin Debit Card	-	-	-	$0/mo	Full KYC	custodial
Fold Bitcoin Credit Card	1.5% BTC	1.5% uncapped on eligible net…	0%	$0/mo	Full KYC	custodial
Crypto.com Visa Signature Credit Card	1.5% BTC	BTC earn capped by tier: Basi…	3%	$0/mo	Full KYC	custodial
Gemini Credit Card	4% BTC	-	0%	$0/mo	Full KYC	custodial
Bitso Card	-	$50/month rewards limit ("You…	-	-	Full KYC	custodial
Coinbase One Card	4% BTC	$10,000/month cap on accelera…	-	-	Full KYC	custodial
Ledger CL Card	1% BTC	-	-	-	Full KYC	hybrid

Live values from our database - details and caveats in each review. "-" = not published by the operator.

Membership bands

Membership bands - Crypto.com's ladder tops at 6% on the first $10,000/month for its highest tiers, 2% beyond, with a 3% foreign transaction fee underneath [4]; Coinbase One's 4% bitcoin back requires a paid Coinbase One membership [see the Coinbase One review]. Membership cards earn on paper and net less once the subscription and the FX layer clear.

Net yield: the worked comparison

Take the same $1,000 monthly spend through three documented structures. Gemini: 4% x $300 + 1% x $700 = $19/month in BTC [3]. Fold: 0.25% x $1,000 = $2.50 uncapped [1]. Krak at the Starter tier: $0 - the tier gate eats the entire headline [5]. Now subtract what the pages do not print: a 2.5% FX fee on a $200 foreign purchase (Freedomia's documented stack [9]) erases a month of Gemini's band in one transaction abroad. The winner at your profile is a function of spend curve, currency mix and custody tolerance - which is exactly what the cashback calculator exists to price.

Gemini credit card page, live capture, accessed 2026-10-05 - the 4%-band structure as marketed, with the monthly cap and 1% tail in the same sentence.

Reading a cap like a rate

A cap is a second rate in disguise. Nexo's $200 Platinum ceiling [5] divides by the 2% rate: past $10,000 of monthly spend the marginal earn is zero - the card quietly becomes a 0%-back product for its heaviest users. Bands work the same way from below (Gemini: 4% to $300, then 1% [3]), ladders from the side (Krak's tier key is balance, not spend [5]). Before comparing any two programs, rewrite each as three numbers: the rate below the gate, the rate above it, and the spend level where they cross. That three-number summary - not the headline - is what the cashback calculator encodes, and it is the only comparison that survives contact with your actual statement.

Field notes

Run the band first. Below-cap spend is where the high-rate cards dominate; above-cap spend is a 1-2% market. Your monthly curve decides which side you live on.
A two-card stack beats one blended rate. Gemini's band, then Fold's floor [3][1] - the documented stack. Chasing boosts is worth less than stacking spillover.
Price the FX before the rewards. A 3% foreign transaction fee [4] makes every non-USD cashback rate negative abroad. If you spend abroad, 0% FX with a lower rate wins.
Watch the pending window. Fold's 30-day period [1] means this month's rewards settle next month as a claim. Rewards are custody until they land.
Export rewards monthly. Every lot is a tax record in the US [7] and a disposal under HMRC pooling [8]. The tax guide has the workflow; April is too late.

Warnings and hard limits

Caps flip the ranking silently. Nexo's $200 Platinum cap [5] means a 2% headline is really "2% up to $10,000 spend, then nothing" - above the cap the effective rate approaches zero, not 2%.
Token payouts are exits, not earnings. 2% in a native token [5] is a 2% position you must unwind at your own spread. Elect BTC wherever the operator allows.
Rates move without notice. The market's most documented operator replaced its whole rewards structure with a changelog [1]; the rest change terms in place. Re-read quarterly, and treat any rate that requires a subscription as promotional until it survives a renewal cycle.
Cash advances never earn. $10-or-3-5% fees and 29-33% APRs from day one [3][4] - the ATM is the earn lane's off switch.

The earn hub covers the same population with the custody and tax frame; the true-cost calculator prices the fee stack underneath any headline. Compute the net, then pick - the landing pages are betting you will not.

Sources

Fold terms and conditions - 0.25% base, Reserve tier table, $5,000 boost cap - accessed 2026-10-05
Fold cardholder agreement - prepaid fee schedule - accessed 2026-10-05
Gemini credit card - 4% on first $300/month then 1%, $0 annual, WebBank - accessed 2026-10-05
Crypto.com Visa Signature rewards - tier rates and monthly spend caps - accessed 2026-10-05
Krak card cashback overview - five tiers from 0% to 2% - accessed 2026-10-05
Nexo card rewards - Credit Mode only, balance gate, monthly caps - accessed 2026-10-05
IRS FAQ on virtual currency - rewards as income, spending as disposal - accessed 2026-10-05
HMRC cryptoassets manual - disposals and pooling for UK holders - accessed 2026-10-05
Freedomia FAQ - 1.3% top-up and 2.5% FX as the cost side of the net-yield stack - accessed 2026-10-05

FAQ

What does "best cashback" actually mean on this page?

Net yield at your profile - headline rate times your eligible monthly spend after caps, minus the conversion stack. A 4% rate capped at $300 of spend beats a 1% flat card below $300, loses to it above roughly $1,200 of spend, and loses to a 3% ladder the moment your balance qualifies. Every number on this page is documented operator terms, not a blended marketing figure.

Which card wins at low monthly spend?

Under ~$500/month, the capped high-rate cards win outright: Gemini pays 4% on the first $300 of eligible spend (then 1% for the rest of the month) [3] - on a $400 month that is $13 in BTC versus Fold's $1 at 0.25% [1]. The cap is irrelevant below the threshold; the rate difference is the whole story.

Which card wins at higher spending?

The ladder bottoms. ether.fi pays 3% on the first $2,000/month at the free Core tier, and 3% on the first $50,000 at Pinnacle [see the ether.fi review] - at $5,000/month spend that is roughly $150/month, more than any capped band. Fold's ladder needs $100,000 in Reserve to reach 3% [1] - a different product: earn as interest on custody, not cashback.

How do monthly caps interact with the rate?

They define the earn curve's knee. Gemini: 4% to $300 spend, then 1%. Crypto.com: 6% to $10,000 spend on Obsidian/Prime, then 2% [4]. Krak: the rate itself scales with balance - Starter tier earns 0% regardless of spend [5]. Nexo caps the reward *amount* per tier ($200 Platinum down to $50 Base monthly [5]). Model your month against the cap, not the headline.

What is the real cost of "no annual fee" cashback?

Three hidden deductions: the spread on your load or conversion (the operator buys your reward BTC from its own venue), the FX fee on non-USD spend (3% at Crypto.com [4] erases a 2% earn abroad), and the subscription or balance gate behind the top tiers. A 2% net can be a 4% gross; a 4% gross can net 1% abroad. The fee calculator nets the stack per currency zone.

Are bitcoin cashback rewards taxable income?

In the US, yes - the IRS treats crypto received as property; its fair market value at receipt is income, and spending it later is a disposal with gain or loss on top [7]. The UK mirrors the structure through HMRC's disposal rules [8]. Practical consequence: every reward transaction is a lot with a cost basis. If your card pays 2% on 60 transactions a month, that is 60 lots a month - the tax records guide covers the export workflow.

Is cashback paid in BTC worth more than fiat cashback?

It is worth exactly the BTC at payout, plus whatever bitcoin does after. That upside is the entire point of the earn lane - and it cuts both ways. If you sell rewards monthly, a fiat card with a higher headline rate may net more after exchange fees. The BTC payout only wins if you hold, which makes the earn card an accumulation instrument, not a discount program.

Why do tiers require holding assets on the platform?

Because the rewards economics need the float. Nexo's Credit Mode requires $5,000+ in digital assets before cashback exists at all [5]; Fold's boost tiers are priced directly in Reserve balance [1]; Krak's five tiers key on 30-day average balance [5]. You are being paid partly for the custody you granted - which is fine, if priced honestly, and a trap if the rate under the gate is 0.25%.

Do boosts and promos change the ranking?

They change *your* month, not the ranking. Rotating merchant boosts (Fold's model [1]) can double the rate on specific categories, but they are merchant-funded promotions - variable, revocable, and worth modeling only after the base rate comparison is done. Rank on the base; treat boosts as found money.

Can a two-card stack beat every single card's rate?

Usually yes, and it is the one trick that reliably beats every single headline: put the capped high-rate card first (Gemini's 4% band [3]), then spill the rest onto the best uncapped base (Fold's 0.25% [1] or a 3% ladder bottom). The stack builder prices the pair against your actual monthly curve.

What breaks a cashback program in practice?

Retroactive term changes first (Fold's full program replacement in September 2026 [1] is the documented recent case), then tier demotions (a balance drop on Nexo or Krak drops your rate silently [5]), then operator risk events. The defense is the same as everywhere on this site: documented terms at signup, screenshots before funding, and the changes feed as the early warning.

How do I compare a BTC payout to a token payout honestly?

Price the token payout at your intended exit, not at the headline. Nexo's 2% in NEXO tokens versus 0.5% in BTC at Platinum [5] is a 4x gross spread - and a 4x concentration position you must exit. If you would immediately sell the token, your honest earn is 2% minus spread and tax, not 2%. Where BTC payout exists as an election, this page treats it as the true rate.