Crypto Card Safety Check

What makes a crypto card safe

A crypto card sits on top of several companies. There is the brand you see, a program manager that runs the card program, and a BIN sponsor, usually a licensed bank or e-money institution, that actually issues the card.

When things go wrong, those relationships decide what happens to your money. The safety check looks at the parts of that structure an issuer discloses publicly.

Licensing

The strongest protection comes from a bank or e-money licence in a jurisdiction with mature financial regulation. Those licences usually come with capital rules, audits and rules on how customer money is held.

Other registrations, such as virtual asset service provider registrations or money service licences, still mean a regulator knows the company exists, but the obligations are usually lighter. They score lower than a tier-one licence and higher than none.

Who issues the card

Naming the program manager and BIN sponsor lets anyone check their licences and history. Issuers that keep these names private make that check impossible, and the score reflects it.

Custody and segregation

Custodial cards hold your balance with the provider. If the company fails, what you get back depends on whether customer funds were kept separate from company funds.

Fund segregation scores highest when the terms say clearly that customer money is held apart. Silence on the point scores lower, and a statement that funds are not separated scores zero.

Self-custody cards score higher on custody because your balance stays in a wallet you control until you spend.

Proof of reserves and incidents

A proof-of-reserves report shows that a provider held enough assets to cover customer balances on a given date. Recent reports score higher because balances change quickly.

Incidents such as hacks, and enforcement actions by regulators, reduce the score. Recent events weigh more than older ones, and enforcement weighs twice as much as an incident.

Using the score

The score is a starting point, not a verdict on a company. It measures what is disclosed and recorded, so a well-run issuer that publishes little can score lower than it deserves.

It still supports a sensible habit. Keeping only what you plan to spend on any custodial card limits the damage if something goes wrong, whatever the score.

The guide to crypto debit card risks covers the wider risks, including price swings and tax. The methodology page publishes the full scoring rules and data standards.

If an issuer believes a factor is wrong, the correction form on each report sends the request to us. The disputed factor is marked “Under review” until it is resolved, and every change is logged.