Bitcoin-Collateral Cards

Spend without selling: credit lines backed by your BTC, with liquidation rules and rates stated plainly.

cards on this page: 1 · issuing today (excl. watch list): 1 · verified or reported facts: 100% · direct on-chain BTC top-up: 0

quick picks

spend against crypto without selling, documented terms Nexo Card - dual-mode card - Credit Mode borrows against your portfolio, Debit Mode spends it; FX 0.2% EEA weekdays, free ATM tiers - the only live BTC-collateral card with published terms

Short answer: One documented product serves this market: the Nexo Card borrows against a crypto portfolio (Credit Mode, from $5,000 in assets). Initial LTV sets the loan, maintenance LTV the alert - an 80% LTV line breaks on a ~10% drop, a 20% line survives a bear leg. Borrow thin and the lane spends without a taxable sale.

#	Card	Bitcoin in	BTC sold	KYC	Monthly	Cashback	Score
1	Nexo Card BTC-backed creditPhysical card	BTC via in-app conversion	Not documented	Full KYC	none	2%	6.7	Inspect

The borrow lane is the smallest population on this site - 1 documented product - and the honesty is the point: bitcoin-collateral spending is a product category that has killed lenders, and the survivors are few on purpose. A collateral card is a spending instrument wearing a margin account. Get the LTV discipline right and it is the cleanest way to spend without a taxable disposal; get it wrong and the liquidation engine sells your stack on a weekend you were not watching.

The liquidation geometry: how much price drop each initial LTV tolerates before the maintenance band forces a sale.

The one live product, in detail

The Nexo Card is a dual-mode Mastercard issued by DiPocket UAB: Debit Mode sells your crypto at the point of sale; Credit Mode borrows against your portfolio instead, with card access gated behind a $5,000+ balance [1]. The credit line's cashback (2% in NEXO tokens or 0.5% in BTC at Platinum, $200 monthly cap [2]), the ~2% median ATM fee across this page's population, is a loyalty dividend on custody you have already granted - the structural trade this page exists to price.

Card	BTC in	BTC sold	FX	ATM	Monthly	KYC	Custody
Nexo Card	BTC via in-app conversion	Not documented	0.2%	2% + $NaN	$0/mo	Full KYC	custodial

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

The mechanics that decide your risk, all documented in the terms: initial LTV by loyalty tier (better tiers borrow more against the same collateral), interest that varies by whether you pay in the platform token, and margin-call behavior below roughly 20% equity [1]. None of these numbers are exotic - what separates this product from the 2021-era casualties is that the terms are published. The graveyard full of lenders that were not is the context.

What the terms actually say

Before the math, the facts: the card's Credit Mode draws against the portfolio's value by loyalty tier, interest varies with the payment currency (platform token rates are the cheap ones), and margin behavior fires below roughly 20% equity [1]. Physical issuance requires a higher balance and tier; the virtual card activates from $50 on the account [1]. Published, checkable, and unusual in this product category for exactly that reason.

The math you must do before swiping

Three numbers, all computable before you borrow a sat: the initial LTV (how much debt per coin of collateral), the maintenance LTV (where the alert fires), and your price tolerance - the drawdown that bridges the two. The relationship is mechanical: at 80% initial LTV, a ~9-11% price drop can put you at margin; at 20% initial LTV, bitcoin can lose most of a bear-market leg before the alert see the liquidation guide. The borrow-vs-sell tool computes the liquidation price from the platform's actual thresholds - run it before funding, not after the first red week.

Nexo card page, live capture, accessed 2026-10-05 - the dual-mode positioning, with the Credit Mode balance gate published on the product page.

Field notes

Borrow thin. Initial LTV near 20% turns the liquidation question from "when" into "only if I also want out". The interest difference versus 50-80% LTV is real; the liquidation risk difference is existential.
Buffer with a stable tranche. A stablecoin sleeve inside the collateral portfolio dampens the LTV swing of a BTC drawdown - the cheapest insurance the lane offers.
Set alerts you cannot ignore. Platform notifications are the maintenance band's voice. A margin call answered in hours is a top-up; answered in days, it is a liquidation.
Price the interest against the tax, honestly. Borrowing defers the disposal (IRS [3], HMRC [4]) - it does not erase it. The break-even is interest cost versus tax saved at your rate and horizon.
Segregate the collateral. Whatever the platform claims about segregation, treat the pledged stack as spendable-by-someone-else. Collateral you cannot afford to lose at maintenance prices does not belong in the line.

Warnings and hard limits

The graveyard is full of this product. BTC-collateral lenders failed with customer collateral in the last cycle; the survivors are the exception, not the standard. Size the relationship as if the platform could freeze tomorrow - the frozen-balance guide is the standing rule set.
Interest compounds against a falling asset. A loan against BTC that pays interest in token or fiat grows the debt while the collateral shrinks - the LTV degrades from both ends. Model the drawdown and the interest accrual, not just the price.
Cashback does not offset interest. 2% back [2] next to double-digit credit APRs is a rounding error. The earn lens of the cashback hub does not apply to borrowed spending.
One product is one operator. With 1 live product, the lane's risk is the operator's solvency plus your LTV discipline. Nothing on this page is a substitute for reading the specific collateral terms before funding.

The liquidation guide is the technical companion; the borrow-vs-sell tool prices the decision. Borrow against coins you intend to keep, at LTVs you can hold through a bear leg - that is the whole discipline.

Sources

Nexo card page - dual-mode architecture, Credit Mode collateral, FX and ATM terms - accessed 2026-10-05
Nexo rewards terms - Credit Mode cashback, $5,000 balance gate, tier caps - accessed 2026-10-05
IRS FAQ on virtual currency - borrowing is not a sale, selling is a disposal - accessed 2026-10-05
HMRC cryptoassets manual - what counts as a disposal of crypto - accessed 2026-10-05
Fold cardholder agreement - the sell-side alternative priced in the comparison - accessed 2026-10-05
ether.fi Cash help - Borrow vs direct-pay modes as the self-custody contrast - accessed 2026-10-05
ether.fi membership tiers - the custody-first alternative to collateral debt - accessed 2026-10-05
mempool.space fee API - 1 sat/vB baseline for on-chain collateral top-ups - accessed 2026-10-05
Freedomia FAQ - the no-KYC spend model as the contrast case to credit lines - accessed 2026-10-05

FAQ

What does a bitcoin-collateral card actually do?

It issues you spending power against collateral instead of selling your bitcoin. The merchant is paid in fiat by the lender; your BTC stays a position (and, in most structures, stays yours except for the liquidation right). Nexo formalizes this as Credit Mode on its dual-mode card - the same card switches between borrowing and spending your crypto directly [1]. The debt accrues interest; the collateral rides the market.

Why is borrowing usually better than selling for taxes?

Because a loan is not a disposal. Selling bitcoin to spend triggers a taxable event every time (IRS [3], HMRC [4]); borrowing against it does not - you receive cash, not proceeds. For long-term holders with embedded gains, that difference compounds: each sale realizes gains and resets the holding clock, each borrowed dollar leaves the lot untouched. The trade is interest cost versus tax cost - the borrow-vs-sell tool prices both paths.

What is the difference between initial and maintenance LTV?

Initial LTV is the loan you are granted against collateral value at origination (Nexo structures credit lines by portfolio value, with card access from a $5,000+ balance [2]). Maintenance LTV is the alarm line: if collateral falls far enough that the ratio breaches it, the position is at risk. Nexo publishes margin requirements from around 20% equity [1] - the practical rule: initial LTV decides how much you can borrow, maintenance LTV decides when you must act.

How far can bitcoin fall before liquidation?

Roughly, price drop tolerance ≈ (1/LTV_at_margin) - 1. At an 80% initial LTV, a ~9-11% drop breaches a typical maintenance band - one red weekend. At 50% LTV you tolerate ~40-44%; at 20% you tolerate most of a bear market leg. The geometry is in the figure above; the exact numbers depend on the platform's maintenance band, and partial liquidation - not total loss - is the standard first step [see the liquidation guide].

What actually happens in a liquidation?

The platform sells part of your collateral to restore the ratio - mechanically a forced sale at the worst price of the cycle, crystallizing your drawdown. Interest and fees continue on the remaining debt. The liquidation guide walks the sequence; the defensive moves are pre-set alerts, a stablecoin buffer tranche, and never taking initial LTV above the level whose alert you could sleep through.

Is my collateral rehypothecated?

Depends on the platform and the product, and the answer changes the counterparty risk more than any fee. Exchange-integrated lenders have historically lent or staked customer collateral; the 2022 cycle proved that pathway. Read the custody clause in the specific terms - if the agreement describes your collateral as an asset of the platform rather than a segregated pledge, you are an unsecured creditor in a wind-down. That is the load-small rule of the spend lane, with higher stakes.

What interest rates do these cards charge?

Platform by platform, and usually tiered by loyalty level - Nexo's published rates vary by tier and whether you pay in NEXO tokens [1]. The honest comparison is annualized all-in cost (interest + any monthly fees) versus the tax you would pay on a sale - not versus zero, and not versus the marketing APR for the best tier. The borrow-vs-sell tool runs that break-even.

Why is this page one card instead of ten?

Because the honest population is one: Nexo's card is the only live, documented, BTC-relevant collateral card in our tracked set at check time [1]. Several 2021-era BTC-collateral cards died with their lenders - the graveyard is a monument to exactly this product category. A thin population is a finding: this product shape concentrates risk in the operator's solvency, and fewer, better-capitalized operators survived.

What does the borrow lane look like beyond cards?

The card is just the spend surface - the underlying product is a collateralized credit line. The same platforms offer the credit line without a card (draw to a bank account, spend by wire), and for pure spending the spend lane cards are cheaper because they carry no interest. The borrow lane wins in exactly one scenario: you need fiat now, you refuse to sell, and the interest cost is below your expected taxable gain from selling.

Can I get a collateral card without KYC?

Not honestly in this population - Credit Mode on the one live product requires full identity verification and a funded, screened account [1]. No-KYC operators in the anonymous hub are spend/prepaid products; a credit line without identity checks is structurally a different (and mostly unlicensed) business. Treat any no-KYC "credit" offer as a red flag, not a feature.

Should I borrow against BTC at all, or just sell what I need?

Sell small amounts if your horizon is short and your tax rate low; borrow if you have conviction on price appreciation and the interest math clears. The discipline is the same either way: the balance on a card is a claim, and collateral debt adds a *second* claim - the loan - against the same coins. Total claims against your stack should never approach the stack's value at your worst plausible price.