Yearly cost at three spending levels
| Monthly spend | Uphold | Tria |
|---|---|---|
| $500 | ≥ $18 Essential | -$29 Lite (virtual) |
| $2,000 | ≥ $72 Essential | -$119 Lite (virtual) |
| $5,000 | ≥ $180 Essential | -$119 Lite (virtual) |
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 | Tria Lite (virtual) |
|---|---|---|
| Top-up and conversion fees | Not disclosed | $0 |
| Spending fees | $0 | $0 |
| Foreign exchange markup | $72 | $0 |
| ATM fees | Not disclosed | $36 |
| Annual, monthly and subscription fees | $0 | $25 |
| Cashback | Not disclosed | -$180 |
| Yearly cost | $72 | -$119 |
Fees
Uphold charges Not disclosed to convert or top up and 1.5% on spending in a foreign currency. Tria charges 0% and 0%.
ATM withdrawals: Uphold $2.95; Tria 1% + $1.
A virtual card costs nothing with Uphold and nothing with Tria. A physical card costs $4.99 and nothing.
Cashback and rewards
Uphold cashback: Variable, not published. Tria cashback: 1.5% to 6%.
Uphold tiers: Essential: rate not published; Elite ($99.99 a year): rate not published.
Tria tiers: Lite (virtual): 1.5% on the first $1,000 a month; Pro (plastic, $109 a year): 4.5% on the first $2,000 a month; Max (metal, $250 a year): 6% on the first $2,000 a month.
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.
Tria: Paid in USDT on Arbitrum in periodic batches, with a waiting period of up to 90 days. Tria renamed its tiers Lite, Pro and Max. Above the monthly spend cap the rate drops to 0.5% on Lite and 1% on Pro and Max, which this model does not capture. An active staking badge adds a boost within the cap. Cash withdrawals, transfers, wallet funding, gambling and vouchers earn nothing. The Pro and Max subscriptions below are the extra cost over the $25 virtual membership ($109 and $250 a year in total). Season 3 rates apply from 1 June 2026.
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.
Tria is offered in 223 countries and territories and excludes 26, including India.
Uphold needs full KYC and Tria 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.
Tria publishes a daily spending limit of $1,000,000 and ATM withdrawals of up to $750 a day.
Uphold works with Apple Pay and Google Pay, and Tria works with Apple Pay and Google Pay. Tria 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.
Tria scores 52/100. Licensing: we could not confirm a licence for the card issuer on its own website. 2026-08-28: An attacker exploited an authorization flaw in an older version of Rain's Solana card contract, which Tria's card programme used, and made $431,945 of unauthorized withdrawals affecting 636 Tria customers. Tria reimbursed affected users in full plus an extra 10%, and Rain says every programme on the vulnerable contract was upgraded. The same exploit hit Avici; about $1.1 million was taken across Rain-powered programmes. Tria's cards work as collateral-backed credit cards at 0% APR. Spending is secured by crypto in the user's own wallet, and a "Liquidation Event" sells collateral if charges go unpaid for one calendar day or the collateral value falls below the balance. International cards are issued by Nimbus, LLC, a Delaware company whose terms link to a privacy notice on legal.raincards.xyz. US cards are issued by "Third National". In Nigeria the card is marketed by BANEX Microfinance Bank, licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria. Tria (Threely Dimensions, Inc.) says it "is not a bank, money services business, card issuer". No proof of reserves applies because Tria holds no customer assets. We found no official enforcement actions. The August 2026 Rain contract exploit is recorded under incidents.
Full reports: Uphold safety check and Tria 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.
Tria Card (Global) is a self-custody Visa card from Nimbus, LLC (international cards); Third National (US cards). It tops up with USDT, USDC, BTC and ETH.
Which card fits you
Uphold fits if
- You live in United States, the only market it serves.
- You weigh licensing and fund segregation heavily, since it scores higher on our safety check.
Tria 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 live outside the US and the handful of countries it excludes.
- You want a higher cashback ceiling (up to 6%).
Read more: Uphold fees and details · Tria fees and details · Tria review