Cardano Card Review: Fees, Cashback and Subscription Plans

Cardano Card is a Visa debit card distributed by EMURGO and issued by Wirex that spends ADA, other crypto and fiat from a Wirex account. The Standard plan is free and pays 0.5% back on purchases, while the paid plans cost €9.99 or €29.99 a month and pay 1% or 4%.

The card is the Wirex card with Cardano branding, so it uses Wirex's X-tras plans, fees and country list. In the US dollar price list the paid plans cost $11.99 and $34.99 a month. Pick your country at the top of the page and every table below shows the terms for your region.

Cardano Card cashback

Cardano Card pays 0.5% back on card purchases on the free Standard plan, 1% on Premium and 4% on Elite.

The paid plans only pay off for heavy spenders. Premium adds half a point over Standard for €119.88 a year, so you need to spend about €2,000 a month before the extra rewards cover the fee. Elite adds 3.5 points for €359.88 a year, which breaks even at around €860 of monthly spending.

Each plan has higher tiers for people who lock WXT, Wirex's token, for 180 days. Locking 150,000 WXT lifts Standard to 1% with no subscription. On the paid plans the lock comes on top of the fee, so the advertised 8% needs Elite at €29.99 a month plus 7.5 million WXT locked for six months.

Rewards are capped every month in WXT, for example at 10,000 WXT on the free plan, so the cap in euros moves with the token price. ATM withdrawals, transfers to other people and tax payments earn nothing.

Cardano Card fees

Cardano Card has no monthly fee on the Standard plan and no card issuance fee, but Wirex doesn't publish a fixed FX or conversion fee for card payments.

Wirex says its exchange rates vary by currency pair and that the fees show in the app before you swap. When you pay with ADA or another token, the card converts it at that rate, so the cost of a payment depends on what you spend and in which currency.

The physical card is free to order, and delivery in the EEA costs €5 by untracked post or €15 by DHL Express. UK delivery costs £5, and other regions have their own local prices. Deposits by SEPA, Faster Payments, ACH and PIX are free.

Cardano Card ATM withdrawal fees

Cardano Card lets you withdraw cash for free up to a monthly allowance, then charges 2% on the rest.

Wirex sets the allowance by region, and the bank that runs the ATM can add its own fee. Cash withdrawals don't earn Cryptoback, so paying by card is the better choice wherever the shop accepts Visa.

Is Cardano Card safe?

Cardano Card is custodial, which means Wirex holds the crypto and fiat in your account and controls the keys.

That is the same arrangement as any exchange card, and it brings the same risk: your balance depends on Wirex staying solvent and secure. EMURGO's roadmap lists a self-custody wallet integration, but today the card spends only from your Wirex account. Keep a working balance on the card and hold long-term ADA in a wallet you control.

You need a government ID, a phone number and a short identity check before you can order the card, and higher verification levels unlock more card features.

Who should get Cardano Card

Cardano Card suits ADA holders in Europe who want to spend their tokens directly and are happy with 0.5% back on the free plan.

The card makes sense on Elite only if you spend around €860 a month or more, and the 8% headline rate needs millions of locked WXT on top of the subscription. For most people the free plan is the right choice, and the comparison below shows whether another card pays more in your country.

Where Cardano Card is available

Cardano Card is available in 35 countries, mostly in the EEA, plus Switzerland, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Argentina, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

The card isn't issued in the United States, where Wirex opens accounts but not cards, and Croatia, Lithuania and Liechtenstein are in the same position. Canada, Singapore and Japan have neither accounts nor cards.