CoinUp Card

What the CoinUp Card is

CoinUp.io is a crypto exchange, and its card is the familiar exchange-card shape: you top up from your account balance and spend with a virtual card or, more recently, a physical one. CoinUp splits the offer in two, which is unusual and genuinely useful:

• Virtual Mastercard - up to five cards per account, for online shopping and subscriptions, with Apple Pay and Google Pay support, no annual or inactivity fees, and a stated reach of 175M+ merchants.
• Physical Visa - one card per account, for in-store payments and ATM withdrawals, marketed with a monthly limit of up to USD 1,000,000, real-time alerts and PIN verification, and no VIP requirement.

Two networks in one programme is a practical decision: Mastercard for the online subscription crowd, Visa for people who want plastic and cash. Independent trackers put acceptance at over 110 million Mastercard merchants across 170+ countries, with availability concentrated in APAC, LATAM, MENA and Africa.

The cashback promise without a number

CoinUp markets «crypto cashback on every transaction» as its central benefit, and the animated proof-of-concept in the page shows +10 USDT and +30 USDT notifications. What the page never states is the cashback rate. It is absent from the card page, the FAQ and the fee rates section, and independent analysis lists it as not disclosed. That is a meaningful gap: a card whose main selling point cannot be quantified should be judged on its other terms until the rate is confirmed in the app.

What you can and cannot verify

The features are clear enough - instant top-up from your CoinUp account, automatic conversion of USDT to USD at the point of sale, spending management and transaction tracking in the app, refunds handled back to the card. What is not disclosed is the layer that matters most for trust: the issuing company, the sponsor bank and any licence are not stated. Independent analysis describes the model as custodial, with funds sitting inside the CoinUp ecosystem, notes that the home jurisdiction appears to be an offshore one, and concludes there is no regulatory protection comparable to a European EMI for non-Asian users.

The exchange's own reputation adds context. CoinUp's Trustpilot profile sits at 3.0 from a small sample with a polarised distribution - roughly two-thirds one-star reviews mentioning blocked accounts and frozen funds, against a third at four to five stars - while its App Store listing for the exchange app scores 4.6 from 28 ratings. Sample sizes are small, but the pattern of account-freezing complaints is the standard risk of custodial exchange cards and belongs in any decision.

The practical read

For an existing CoinUp user in a supported region, the card is a free-to-hold convenience with a physical Visa option that many competitors lack. For everyone else, the missing pieces - undisclosed cashback rate, unnamed issuer, unnamed sponsor bank, no published FX schedule - make this a card to use with spending balances only, not savings. If you want an exchange card with a named issuer and published fees, the Zoomex Card names UR as its Swiss-licensed custodian, and the RedotPay comparison plus the wider crypto cards directory cover the alternatives.

Virtual card

• Virtual Mastercard, up to five cards per account, for online shopping and subscriptions.
• Acceptance at 175M+ merchants worldwide, with 170+ countries and regions covered.
• Apple Pay and Google Pay support.
• No annual or inactivity fees.

Physical card

• Physical Visa card, one per account, for in-store payments and ATM withdrawals.
• Monthly limit marketed as up to USD 1,000,000.
• Real-time transaction alerts and PIN verification.
• No VIP requirement, no annual fee and no inactivity fee.
• Applied for in the app and delivered to you.

Account and app features

• Top up by transferring crypto from your CoinUp account to the card, with the balance spendable instantly.
• USDT converts to USD at the point of sale.
• Spending tracking and card settings managed inside the CoinUp app.
• Refunds are handled back to the card.

Requirements

• An active, registered CoinUp account.
• Completed KYC identity verification.
• Residence in an eligible region, which CoinUp says must be confirmed in the app.

What the card spends

Funding comes from your CoinUp exchange account, with USDT the asset CoinUp names explicitly: funds transferred to the card are spendable instantly and convert to USD at the point of payment. The card page does not publish a full list of top-up assets, so other balances on the exchange may or may not be usable - check in the app.

How the conversion works

• Transfer crypto from your CoinUp account to the card.
• The balance is available immediately, and USDT auto-converts to USD when you spend.
• Refunds from merchants route back to the card.

Custody and where the money sits

The card is custodial: funds move out of your exchange account and sit inside the CoinUp card balance, which CoinUp or its undisclosed service provider controls. Independent analysis notes that neither the issuing company nor the sponsor bank is named, and that the model offers no self-custody option. That is the key risk to price in - keep only what you plan to spend on the card, and do not use it as a savings vehicle.

Published costs

• Card issuance fee: free, per independent trackers.
• Annual fee: none.
• Inactivity fee: none.
• Foreign exchange markup: recorded as 0%, though CoinUp does not publish an FX schedule itself.
• ATM fees and limits: not declared. The physical card supports ATM withdrawals, but no fee or ceiling is published.

Reported but unconfirmed

• A 1% top-up fee is referenced in third-party recruitment material for the card team («low 1% top-up fee»), but it does not appear in CoinUp's public card documentation. Confirm the actual funding cost in the app.
• The cashback rate is not published anywhere by CoinUp, despite being the card's headline benefit.

What this means in practice

A card advertising free issuance, no annual fee and 0% FX looks cheap on paper. The unpriced items are the ones that decide the real cost: the top-up fee, the conversion spread on USDT to USD, and the cashback rate that would offset them. Until those three numbers are visible in your account, treat any cost comparison as provisional.