Yearly cost at three spending levels
| Monthly spend | Uphold | Avici |
|---|---|---|
| $500 | ≥ $18 Essential | $39.60 Platinum |
| $2,000 | ≥ $72 Essential | $75.60 Platinum |
| $5,000 | ≥ $180 Essential | $147.60 Platinum |
Yearly cost: conversion, FX, ATM and fixed fees minus cashback. A minus sign means cashback outweighs fees. US dollars, 20% foreign spending, one $200 ATM withdrawal a month. The card cost calculator runs the same comparison with your own habits.
Where the money goes at $2,000 a month
| Line | Uphold Essential | Avici Platinum |
|---|---|---|
| Top-up and conversion fees | Not disclosed | $0 |
| Spending fees | $0 | $0 |
| Foreign exchange markup | $72 | $48 |
| ATM fees | Not disclosed | $27.60 |
| Annual, monthly and subscription fees | $0 | $0 |
| Cashback | Not disclosed | -$0 |
| Yearly cost | $72 | $75.60 |
Fees
Uphold charges Not disclosed to convert or top up and 1.5% on spending in a foreign currency. Avici charges 0% and 1%.
ATM withdrawals: Uphold $2.95; Avici 0.65% + $1.
A virtual card costs nothing with Uphold and $15 with Avici. A physical card costs $4.99 and $50. Neither card has an annual fee on its base tier.
Cashback and rewards
Uphold cashback: Variable, not published. Avici cashback: None.
Uphold tiers: Essential: rate not published; Elite ($99.99 a year): rate not published.
Avici tiers: Platinum: 0%; Signature ($20 a year after year one): 0%.
Uphold: For the first 3 months after activation, the Essential card pays 2% in XRP (up to $120) and the Elite card pays 4% on crypto and metals and 3% on fiat and stablecoins (up to $300). Uphold does not publish the rate after that period. The Elite card also removes the FX and ATM fees.
Avici: No card cashback is published. Signature adds Visa Signature benefits (lounge access via Visa Airport Companion, rental car cover, purchase protection, travel insurance) but no free lounge visits yet. New users get a $5 welcome bonus ($8 through a referral). Referrers earn 2% of a friend's card spend for the friend's first 90 days.
Availability and KYC
Uphold is offered in one country, including United States. Available to US residents in US states and Washington D.C. Not available in Louisiana, New York or US territories.
Avici is offered in 49 countries, including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand and United Arab Emirates. Avici lists these regions for the card. In the US it is open in 31 states only (AL, AK, AR, CA, CO, CT, FL, HI, IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, ME, MA, MI, MN, MT, NE, NH, NJ, NY, NC, OK, PA, SC, TX, UT, VA, WV, WY). The list has "Dominica Republica" and "Dominicana", read here as the Dominican Republic. Residents of Belarus, mainland China, Cuba, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Myanmar, Nepal, Nicaragua, North Korea, Russia, Sri Lanka, Syria, Turkey, Ukraine, Venezuela and Vietnam are barred, and Avici says unlisted places may also be restricted. The card cannot be used in Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Syria, Ukraine or Venezuela. The card terms page also says "Non-US citizens only", which conflicts with the US state list.
Uphold needs full KYC and Avici needs full KYC.
The card finder checks both cards against your country, KYC level and must-have features.
Limits, wallets and card types
Uphold does not publish fixed spending or ATM limits.
Avici does not publish fixed spending or ATM limits.
Uphold works with Apple Pay and Google Pay, and Avici works with Apple Pay and Google Pay. Avici issues a virtual card you can use straight away.
Custody and safety
Uphold scores 64/100. Licensing: holds a licence or registration outside the tier-one list (Uphold HQ Inc. is a licensed money transmitter (NMLS ID 1269875)). No incidents or enforcement actions found in the last 36 months. Uphold publishes its assets and liabilities in real time on its transparency page. Funds in the USD account are held at Cross River Bank, Member FDIC, with pass-through insurance up to $250,000 when certain conditions are met; crypto balances are not covered.
Avici scores 67/100. Licensing: holds a licence or registration outside the tier-one list (Issuer Third National (Nimbus LLC dba Third National) is a licensed money transmitter in Puerto Rico, NMLS #2612780, licence TM-0207). The card is issued through Third National. 2026-08-28: An attacker exploited an outdated Rain card-collateral contract and drained about $500,859 from the card balances of 1,685 Avici users (about $1.1 million across several programs). Self-custodial wallets were not affected. Avici and Rain committed to refund every user in full and Rain upgraded the affected deployments. Avici filed an FBI IC3 report. Avici Inc is a Delaware company with a named San Francisco address and published terms, privacy policy and docs, and the app has been on the iOS App Store since 2023 (app id 6465962039). The card holds no user funds in Avici's own accounts, but card balances sit in a Rain contract that was exploited in August 2026. Card spend is settled with Visa roughly weekly by liquidating the spent USDC.
Full reports: Uphold safety check and Avici safety check.
About each card
Uphold Debit Card is a custodial Visa card from Uphold. It tops up with USD, USDC, USDT, BTC and XRP.
Avici Card is a self-custody Visa card from Avici Inc. It tops up with USDC.
Which card fits you
Uphold fits if
- You live in United States, the only market it serves.
Avici fits if
- You want to keep crypto in your own wallet until each payment.
- You spend in foreign currencies often, since its FX markup is lower.
- Most of your spending is in your home currency, where its lower conversion fee counts most.
- You weigh licensing and fund segregation heavily, since it scores higher on our safety check.
Read more: Uphold fees and details · Avici fees and details