EasyCard

What is EasyCard?

EasyCard is the Visa card from EasyOnRamp, a South African fintech regulated by the FSCA as an authorised financial services provider. The pitch is deliberately narrow and practical: deposit crypto into the app, apply for the card, and spend that balance anywhere Visa is accepted — from Pick n Pay to Woolworths — without first cashing out to a bank account or queuing at an exchange.

The card is issued in two forms. A virtual EasyCard lives in the app for online checkout and tap-to-pay, and a physical card can be applied for on top of it, which is the version that unlocks ATM withdrawals. Both can be added to Apple Pay and Google Pay, and the platform supports sending money directly to any other EasyCard holder.

How it works

Setup follows four steps, all inside the EasyOnRamp app:

1. Verify your identity — upload the required documents, as FICA compliance requires
2. Deposit — fund the account with BTC, ETH, USDT or USDC
3. Apply for the card — virtual, or physical if you want ATM withdrawals
4. Add it to your wallet — Apple Pay or Google Pay for contactless and online payments

EasyOnRamp describes the model as keeping your crypto in your control until you spend it, with every payment confirmed by you rather than deducted automatically. In practice, deposits sit on the platform: EasyOnRamp states client assets are held 1:1 in segregated, bankruptcy-remote trusts, which is a strong structural protection but not the same as holding your own keys. If owning the keys matters, the crypto wallets directory is the better place to start.

Compliance and security

The operator leans hard on its regulatory position, which matters in a market where most crypto cards operate from offshore. EasyOnRamp is an FSCA-regulated authorised Financial Services Provider, certified to ISO 27001 for information security, and states full AML/CFT compliance with FICA reporting. Its partner wall includes Chainalysis for blockchain analytics, and the card itself carries a “powered by” badge crediting Rain, the stablecoin card infrastructure platform behind other stablecoin Visa programmes. EasyOnRamp also says payments are protected with encryption and fraud monitoring, with each transaction confirmed by the user.

Yield, not cashback

EasyCard does not compete on rewards. There is no cashback programme; instead EasyOnRamp markets the combination of deposit, earn yield, spend instantly. Stablecoin balances can earn yield from institutional lending markets while they sit in the account, and the same treasury product is offered to South African businesses as a way to hold digital dollars rather than a weakening rand. That makes the card a spending outlet for a yield-bearing balance rather than a rewards card in its own right.

What it costs

This is the weak point for anyone comparing cards carefully: EasyOnRamp has not published a card fee schedule. There is no documented card issuance fee, monthly fee, annual fee, FX or conversion markup, or ATM withdrawal price, and the app is where those terms will appear. The site markets the whole product on simplicity and low fees, and EasyOnRamp’s broader on-ramp and off-ramp service has its own pricing that is separate from card spending. Treat the fee question as unresolved until you see the terms in the app.

Who it suits

EasyCard fits South African crypto holders and stablecoin savers who want to spend digital dollars locally without an offshore account, and who value a locally licensed operator over a bigger international brand. It suits people holding USDT or USDC for rand hedging, and businesses that already run a stablecoin treasury through EasyOnRamp. It suits less well anyone who wants cashback, a fully published fee schedule, self-custody, or a card outside South Africa. For a comparison with the other stablecoin-funded Visa programmes, see the crypto cards directory — the MoneyGram Card runs a similar stable-dollar-to-Visa model on a global remittance network, while EasyCard keeps its focus on a single regulated market.

EasyCard features

• Visa acceptance — spend at any terminal, online or in store, wherever Visa is accepted.
• Crypto deposits — fund the account with BTC, ETH, USDT or USDC.
• Virtual and physical cards — a virtual card for online and tap-to-pay use, and a physical card that adds ATM withdrawals.
• Apple Pay and Google Pay — add the card to either wallet for contactless payments.
• Send money to any EasyCard holder — peer-to-peer transfers inside the EasyOnRamp ecosystem, settled in-app.
• You confirm every payment — transactions are authorised by the user rather than deducted automatically, and EasyOnRamp states crypto remains in your control until you spend it.
• Local spending in South Africa — the card is positioned around everyday South African retailers such as Pick n Pay and Woolworths.
• FSCA-regulated operator — EasyOnRamp is an authorised Financial Services Provider under South African regulation.
• ISO 27001 certified — information security management certification.
• FICA AML/CFT compliance — identity verification and reporting obligations are built into onboarding.
• Segregated client funds — EasyOnRamp states client assets are held 1:1 in bankruptcy-remote trusts.
• Chainalysis screening — blockchain analytics among the platform’s compliance partners.
• Yield on balances — stablecoin holdings can earn yield from institutional lending markets before being spent.
• Individuals and businesses — personal accounts plus stablecoin treasury infrastructure for South African companies.

What the card does not include

• Any cashback, points or rewards programme
• A published fee schedule — card fees, FX and ATM pricing are undocumented
• Availability outside South Africa, as far as the site states
• Self-custody — balances are held on the platform in segregated trusts rather than in keys you control
• Published spending and withdrawal limits

Supported assets

EasyCard works from a balance funded with four assets, according to EasyOnRamp’s own setup flow:

• USDT — the most widely used dollar stablecoin
• USDC — Circle’s dollar stablecoin
• BTC — Bitcoin
• ETH — Ethereum

The stablecoins are the practical choice for card spending: they are pegged to the dollar, so a purchase does not depend on the price of a volatile asset at the moment you pay. EasyOnRamp’s positioning is explicitly about that — hold digital dollars, hedge against a weaker local currency, earn yield on the balance, then spend it directly.

How spending converts

When you pay in South Africa, the transaction settles in rand while your balance is held in crypto or stablecoin. EasyOnRamp has not published the conversion mechanics or the markup applied at that point, so the exchange rate you receive on each purchase is the single most important number to check once you have the card in hand.

Custody of the balance

The deposit sits with EasyOnRamp rather than in a wallet whose keys you hold. The company states client assets are held 1:1 in segregated, bankruptcy-remote trusts, which is a materially better structure than a commingled balance but is still platform custody — the assets are protected from the company’s balance sheet, not controlled by you directly. EasyOnRamp describes the crypto as remaining “in your control until you spend it”, which refers to authorising payments, not to holding private keys. If direct control of the underlying assets is a requirement, the crypto wallets directory is the place to look.

Yield on the balance

Unusually for a card in this category, the balance is meant to earn while it waits: EasyOnRamp offers yield on stablecoin holdings sourced from institutional lending markets, with the same treasury infrastructure packaged for South African businesses. The card is the spending layer on top of that balance rather than a standalone product.

EasyCard fees

EasyOnRamp has not published a fee schedule for EasyCard. The card page markets simplicity and low fees but does not set out issuance, monthly, conversion or ATM costs, so the numbers below can only say what is and is not documented. The authoritative terms are the ones shown in the app when you apply.

Where the fees sit

Two separate fee layers exist around the card and are easy to confuse. The first is the card itself: what it costs to issue, hold and use, which EasyOnRamp has left undocumented. The second is the wider EasyOnRamp platform: on-ramping and off-ramping between fiat and crypto, and the yield products, carry their own pricing that is independent of card spending. Even if the card turns out to be free at the point of use, the conversion applied when a stablecoin balance settles a rand purchase is where a markup would hide, so that is the number to confirm before relying on the card for everyday spending.

Not published

• Card issuance and replacement fees
• Monthly or annual fees
• Conversion and FX markups on spending
• ATM withdrawal fees, limits and frequency caps
• Loading, top-up and withdrawal minimums or maximums
• Spending limits and per-transaction caps
• Eligibility criteria and any account tier requirements