Hey hey, my fellow Canuck! It looks like you’re not as lucky as your European pals when it comes to crypto cards. EU Residents seem to have more choices than they know what to do with, while Canadians are feeling a bit left out in the cold.
But fear not, I’ve done some digging and found a few crypto cards that are actually available to you. Some of the others I came across were either discontinued or just not available up there in the Great White North.
Here are the cards I found. If you’re feeling extra fancy, you can even hit the “Add to compare” button to see them side by side. Or if you just want the highlights, check out our Top Crypto Cards list below.
- Almost no fees for using the card
- Excellent Customer Service
- Large sell spread (1.70%) + trading fee (2%) makes it very expensive to trade crypto on their platform
![Kinesis Card [Canada]](https://cryptonoshi.com/wp-content/uploads/KinesisCard-543x350.png)
- Every customer gets a dedicated account manager
- Auto-converts crypto to fiat on every purchase
- Has a total card transaction fee of 1.95% (most other cards have 0% transaction fees)
- Virtual-only card, no physical version, which means no ATM withdrawals
- No Apple Pay either, so online-only purchases
- Offers cashback in Bitcoin
- Generous ATM daily withdrawal limit
- Very limited crypto features in the app, no swaps
- Cashback is in Bitcoin
- Apple Pay Enabled
- Only BTC and ETH supported
- High Foreign Exchange Fee
![Crypto.com Card [Canada]](https://cryptonoshi.com/wp-content/uploads/CryptocomCard_MidnightBlue-554x350.png)
- Nice extras with higher Tier cards - Spotify, Netflix, Amazon Prime, and more
- 250-1300 CAD free ATM withdrawal per month
- Higher Tier cards with higher rewards require CRO token staking
- Non-responsive customer service
How do Canadian crypto cards work?
Every card is denominated in a single Fiat currency (CAD).
Before you can make a transaction on your card, the necessary amount of your crypto is converted into fiat currency (Canadian dollars). This most often happens at the time of preloading the card, but some providers convert your crypto only at the time of purchase.
This means that even if a merchant doesn’t accept crypto, you can still use your card to make a payment since it is actually denominated in CAD.
Are there any hidden fees?
Yes. One is a Foreign Transaction Fee, which applies when using your card for transactions in another currency (other than CAD).
Visa and Mastercard charge a 1% Foreign Exchange Fee, in addition to your card provider’s FX fee.
Some cards, like Wealthsimple Card, do not charge Foreign Exchange Fees. But Mastercard or Visa will still charge you 1% on every foreign transaction. Keep that in mind.
Why should I use a Crypto Debit Card versus a traditional Debit Card with my favorite bank?
Mostly, because you don’t have to pay for withdrawing from the exchange to your regular bank account. Your bank may also charge you an incoming wire transfer fee.
Instead, you can just convert crypto to Canadian dollars within the same platform and then spend it via the card. You save your dollars on money transfer costs.
My Recommendation
Since you will be converting your crypto to Fiat, then it will be very important to also check the trading fee % and sell spread % on each platform. Let’s say you chose Wealthsimple Card for having almost no card fees, but heeey wait a minute – the spread + trading fee is 3.20% (!).
Here are the trading fees and sell spread for each of the platforms, to make your choice easier:
| Trading Fee | Spread (Sell Cost) | Total Crypto to Fiat Conversion Fee | |
 Crypto.com Card | 0% | 1.41% | 1.41% |
 Kinesis Card | 0.22% | 0.17% | 0.39% |
 Netcoins Card | 0.50% | 0.92% | 1.42% |
 Shakepay Card | 0% | 1.21% | 1.21% |
 Wealthsimple Card | 1.50% | 1.70% | 3.20% |
Maybe Kinesis Card looks good in the table above, but in fact, they charge a large card transaction fee of 1.95%, so your money will chip away for every card payment you make.
In my opinion, Crypto.com Card is the best of what Canadians are able to choose from. They have the best rewards system, an option for upgrading to a better card tier, generous spending limits, a set amount of free ATM withdrawals and they have a nice mobile app that is easy to use.
Paulina Masson
Paulina has a strong background in finance and cryptocurrency. She's been involved with crypto since its early days and has observed its progression over the years. Notably, she possesses expertise in various crypto products, having personally tested and evaluated many of them. In her spare time, she is developing a crypto bot designed to automatically trade on short timeframes.
