ARQ Card

What ARQ is

ARQ is the rebranded DolarApp, a Latin American fintech backed by Founders Fund, Sequoia, Y Combinator, Kaszek and BH Digital. It provides digital dollar (USDc) and digital euro (EURc) accounts, international transfers and investment access to global stocks and ETFs, with around 2 million users. The ARQ Card is the spending layer on top of that account.

The card

There are two cards: an international Mastercard debit card and the ARQ Prestige credit card. The Mastercard works in more than 180 countries with no fees and no annual fee advertised, and ARQ positions it around conversion at real market rates rather than the marked-up spreads that Mexican and Argentine users are used to paying. Cashback is advertised as a headline card benefit, with the specific rate published in the app rather than on the site.

The accounts behind it

What distinguishes ARQ from a standalone crypto card is that the card draws on an account designed for cross-border life: receive payments from the US and Europe through your own account details, convert to digital dollars or euros instantly, send money across the region, and access earnings accounts and global stocks. It is a spending card attached to an international money account rather than a card with a crypto balance bolted on.

Who it suits

ARQ is aimed at travellers, remote workers and professionals in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Colombia who earn or spend across currencies. Using the card abroad avoids local conversion spreads, and the digital dollar account gives a dollar-denominated home for savings. Note the legal framing: USDc and EURc are virtual assets, not fiat currency.

ARQ's Mastercard works in more than 180 countries with no annual fee, which makes the comparison with the Airtm Card a direct one for freelancers: both run on dollar balances and neither pays rewards. The Ripio Card takes the opposite approach and pays 2% back in crypto. See how the three Latin American options differ in our Best Crypto Cards directory.

Cards

• International Mastercard debit card accepted in more than 180 countries.
• ARQ Prestige credit card with additional benefits.
• No fees and no annual fee advertised on the card.

Accounts and transfers

• Digital dollar (USDc) and digital euro (EURc) accounts.
• Receive and send payments from the US and Europe using your own account details.
• Conversion at real market rates with no hidden fees.

Growing your balance

• Earnings accounts that pay returns on digital dollars and pesos.
• Access to leading stocks and ETFs to invest across global markets from the same app.

Availability

• Operates across Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Colombia, with 2 million users.
• Apps rated 4.7 on iOS and 4.6 on Android.

Digital dollars and euros

ARQ is built around USDc and EURc - stable digital representations of the dollar and the euro rather than a broad basket of crypto. You convert pesos into digital dollars or euros instantly and spend from that balance, which keeps the card's purchasing power stable between top-up and purchase.

Why that matters for a card

Because the underlying balances are stablecoins rather than volatile assets, the ARQ Card avoids the conversion-timing risk that comes with spending bitcoin or ether on a card. You decide when to move into digital dollars, and the card spends from that balance afterwards.

Investments

Separately from the card, ARQ offers access to more than 4,000 stocks and ETFs and earnings accounts on digital balances. Those sit alongside the card rather than feeding it, and they carry their own market risk.

What ARQ publishes

• Card fees: none advertised
• Annual fee: none
• Conversion: real market rates with no hidden fees
• Banking partners and card acceptance across 180+ countries

What ARQ does not publish

The card page does not publish an issuance fee, ATM withdrawal charges, FX spread limits or a spending limit, and the cashback rate - which ARQ promotes as a headline benefit - is stated without a number. Because the value proposition rests on conversion rates rather than fee waivers, the practical way to evaluate it is to compare the rate you are actually quoted on a live conversion against a bank or exchange rate on the same day.

Tax and regulatory framing

ARQ states that USDc and EURc are virtual assets and not fiat currency. That distinction affects how balances are treated and what protections apply, so anyone holding meaningful sums in the account should read the help documentation on stablecoins rather than assuming deposit-like protection.