I've rewritten my guide completely :)
Crypto.com is now finally shipping their MCO Visa cards in UK & EU! I have received my card this week and immediately got 10% cashback when trying it at Lidl: https://imgur.com/a/ITB39JX
I'm very enthousiastic about Crypto.com myself and all the products they offer. I'll try to explain here as clearly as I can.
I would appreciate it if you'd sign up through my link: https://platinum.crypto.com/r/sxzbhwuqje or use code sxzbhwuqje in the app. You will also be eligible for the $50 bonus then (see below).
What is Crypto.com?
Crypto.com offers an app with which you can easily buy and sell cryptocurrencies without additional cost. The company exists since 2016 (back then under the name Monaco, hence the MCO abbreviation) and now they have 2 million users.
Next to trading within the app you can also get interest on your cryptocurrencies up to 12% (complete overview here), similar to the likes of Celsius and BlockFi.
The MCO Visa card
Through their app Crypto.com also offers the MCO Visa card. This is a Visa card tied to the MCO cryptocurrency. There are 5 different card tiers and you get:
- a metal card (except the free tier)
- no monthly fees
- $50 bonus when applying for the card (except the free tier), which you can cash out immediately
- Cashback up to 5% on all purchases made with the card (realistically up to 3%)
- 100% cashback on Spotify each month (all except free tier)
- 100% cashback on Netflix each month (3rd tier and up)
- Free access to airport lounges with the higher tiers
- Now till the end of June: 10% cashback at Sainsbury's, Tesco, Lidl, Aldi, McDonald's, Uber Eats, Domino's and more (5% with the free card, details here)
All cashbacks and bonuses are paid in the MCO cryptocurrency. You can immediately sell the MCO in the app for pounds/euros, which you can use again for purchases with the card if you want.
To get one of the non-free card tiers you need to buy MCO coin and stake them, which means holding on to them for 6 months. After the 6 months you can sell them again at the then current rate. The price of MCO is currently around £4,45 / €5,00, meaning that you have to lock £223 / €250 for six months to get the Ruby Steel card. You'll earn this back in about 7 months (see below),
These are the lower three card tiers:
| Card Tier | Midnight Blue | Ruby Steel | Jade Green/Royal Indigo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stake (hold) | None (free card) | 50 MCO (~ £223 / €250) | 500 MCO (~ £2230 / €2500) |
| Bonus after staking | None | $50 (in MCO) | $50 (in MCO) |
| Cashback % | 1% | 2% | 3% |
| Monthly Spotify Rebate | No | Yes | Yes |
| Monthly Netflix Rebate | No | No | Yes |
| LoungeKey Airport Lounge Access | No | No | Yes |
| Metal card | No | Yes | Yes |
Calculation example payback time (7 months)
Below I've made an example calculation for the payback time of the Ruby Steel card, assuming a spend of £1000 / €1000 monthly with the card and that you use Spotify. After 7 months you will have earned back your initial investment :)
But, additionally you also have the 10% cashback on groceries until the end of June plus the worth of your MCO coins that you locked for 6 months. Even if they would be worth only half of what they are worth today, you'd still have a value of £112 / € 225 (see below about price expectation).
| Value | |
|---|---|
| $50 bonus immediately after staking | £40 / €46 |
| 2% cashback on all purchases with the card (assuming montly spend of £1000 / €1000 during 7 months) | £140 / €140 |
| Spotify rebate (£10 / €10 per month) | £70 / €70 |
| Total | £250 / €256 |
MCO price
The price of the MCO coin has been around £4,50 / €5 for a while. The cards have just been released for UK and EU. Because especially in EU cashback cards are not common, I expect that lots of people would be interested in getting a cashback card like this one. The good thing about that is that the demand for MCO coin would increase (because people need to lock them for 6 months) and I expect that the price of MCO will rise then (there are only 16 million of them, less than Bitcoins).
No guarantees, this is my personal opinion :) I advise you to think about it yourself.
Notes
- You can easily top up your MCO Visa card with pound / euros using a credit/debit card without any fees.
- All bonuses and cashbacks are paid in MCO coin. You can immediately sell them through the app (minimum 4,5) for pounds or euros. You can then spend these again with your card or withdraw to your bank account (minimum $100 equiv. but you can top up extra to get to the minumum).
- SEPA Euro bank transfers in and out of your Crypto.com account are available now, but GBP bank transfers are not possible right now since they're switching providers. It should be possible again the end of next month.
- If you want to upgrade to a higher card level, the costs are £/€ 50 (unless your card hasn't shipped yet)
- If you want to cancel your card you pay £/€ 50, but only if there is still any money left unspent on the card.
- If you don't use your card for 12 months, an inactivity fee of £/€ 5 per month will be charged if you have available balance on your card.
- Full conditions for the card: https://crypto.com/document/eu_card
- Their support department is currently quite overwhelmed so it can take a few days before you get any response.
- Tip: if you use a Curve card you can use the 'Go Back in Time' feature to switch purchases from the last 90 days to your MCO card and get cashback for them!
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