Good
- 2% cashback in USDT, BTC or ETH on purchases paid with crypto
- No fee to get or use the card, physical or virtual
- Cash withdrawals at Link and Banelco ATMs in Argentina
- Apple Pay and Google Pay on both the virtual and physical card
Watch out
- 0.5% conversion fee on every purchase paid with crypto
- Peso-funded purchases earn only 0.5% cashback
- No ATM withdrawals outside Argentina
- Card spending limited to USD 7,500 a year
Ripio Card is a free Visa prepaid card from Ripio, an Argentine crypto wallet, and it pays 2% cashback in USDT, BTC or ETH on purchases you pay with crypto. There is no fee to get or use the card, but each purchase paid with crypto carries a 0.5% conversion fee, so the net return is 1.5%.
You can pay from any crypto or peso balance you hold in Ripio, and the card works at any Visa merchant in Argentina or abroad. Spending is capped by Ripio's card limits, which are set in US dollars, while every amount in the tables on this page is in Argentine pesos.
Ripio Card cashback
Ripio Card pays 2% cashback on purchases paid with crypto and 0.5% on purchases paid with pesos, up to ARS 50,000 of cashback a month.
The 2% is the reason to get the card, so it pays to choose a crypto balance as your payment source instead of pesos. The reward is paid in USDT, BTC or ETH, and Ripio credits it to your account within 48 business hours of the purchase.
The ARS 50,000 cap is reached after ARS 2.5 million of crypto-funded spending in a month. In practice the card's own limit of USD 1,000 a day and USD 7,500 a year will stop most people well before that, so the cap is rarely the constraint.
Loading money into other wallets or exchanges earns nothing, and neither do the taxes, charges and fees added to a purchase. A monthly budget of ARS 500,000 paid with crypto returns ARS 10,000 in cashback.
Ripio Card fees
Ripio Card has no fee to get the card or to use it, and the one fee you pay is 0.5% on each purchase you choose to pay with crypto.
That fee takes a quarter of the 2% reward, so ARS 500,000 of crypto-funded purchases costs ARS 2,500 in conversion and returns ARS 10,000 in cashback, leaving you ARS 7,500 ahead. Paying with pesos avoids the conversion fee, but the cashback then drops to 0.5%.
Purchases abroad are converted at the Banco de la Nación Argentina retail selling rate multiplied by 1.03, which works out to 3% above the official retail dollar. On top of that comes the 0.5% conversion fee if you pay with crypto, so a USD 100 purchase abroad costs about USD 3.50 more than the official rate.
The card's limits are set in dollars. You can make up to 20 local purchases and 10 international purchases of up to USD 1,000 each a day, but total card spending stops at USD 1,000 a day and USD 7,500 a year.
Ripio Card ATM withdrawal fees
Ripio Card can be used for cash withdrawals at Link and Banelco ATMs in Argentina, and Ripio doesn't charge a fee for them.
The bank or company that runs the ATM may still add its own charge, which Ripio doesn't control. You can make up to five withdrawals a day of up to USD 200 each, counted against the same daily card limit as your purchases.
Withdrawals at ATMs outside Argentina aren't possible, so Ripio Card won't give you cash on a trip abroad.
Is Ripio Card safe?
Ripio Card is custodial: the crypto and pesos you spend are held in your Ripio account, and Ripio holds them for you.
The terms for the Ripio Card in Argentina are published under the name Digipayments, and the card runs on the Visa network. As with any custodial wallet, your balance depends on the company that holds it, so keep only the amount you plan to spend in the account linked to the card and move longer-term savings to a wallet you control.
You can request the physical Ripio Card from the app or the website, and it arrives within 15 days of the request, with a tracking number sent by email.
Who should get Ripio Card
Ripio Card suits Argentine residents who already keep savings in crypto or stablecoins with Ripio and want to spend them in pesos without selling on an exchange first.
For that user the card returns an effective 1.5% after the conversion fee, with no card or maintenance fee, and it adds ATM access in Argentina, which some local crypto cards don't have. Getting the reward in USDT is also handy if you want the cashback to stay in dollars.
The yearly limit of USD 7,500 is the main drawback, since it is roughly USD 625 a month, so heavier spenders will need a second card. The comparison below shows the alternatives available in Argentina.
Where Ripio Card is available
Ripio Card is available in Argentina only, to residents with a verified Ripio account, but the card works at Visa merchants worldwide.