BitPay Card Overview
Key facts
Additional details
BitPay Card Screenshots
BitPay Card Pros and Cons
Pros
- Balances returned in full by check at shutdown
- Issued by an FDIC-member bank while active
Cons
- Discontinued June 2023 — card no longer works
- Cards deactivated; waitlist leads to no card
- Replacement program still unlaunched after 3 yrs
- Program was reward-free even when it was alive
- Formerly US-only, no international version
What BitPay Card was and How it Worked
While it operated, the BitPay Card followed a preload model. A holder picked a coin and an amount in the BitPay app, accepted the quoted exchange rate, and the converted dollars landed as a card balance within minutes. Checkout was then an ordinary prepaid-card transaction — the sale to USD had already happened at load, so nothing converted at the register.
The physical card worked in-store, online, and at ATMs, and the app provisioned an instant virtual card to Apple Pay and Google Pay. Cash loads were possible through Mastercard’s rePower network. All of this stopped in June 2023: loads ended June 1, spending and ATM access ended June 15, and balances were mailed back by check at the end of the month.
Who Is BitPay Card For?
Nobody, since the product is no longer active. There is no card to obtain, load, or spend. Existing holders were cashed out by check in mid-2023 and their cards no longer function. Anyone searching for a working crypto card should treat BitPay as unavailable and look at cards that actually issue today.
BitPay Card Rewards Mechanics (Defunct)
Even when the card was live, the realized reward rate on everyday spending was zero — no purchase earned anything by default. The program is now discontinued, so this section is a record only.
| Element | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Base rate | None | No purchase earned by default (program now defunct) |
| Top rate | Up to 15% | Merchant-funded Cardlytics offers, added August 2022 (defunct) |
| Reward currency | Cash back | An activated offer settled as cash back (defunct) |
| Activation | Required per deal | Off-list or unactivated purchases earned nothing (defunct) |
The advertised “up to 15%” came from a merchant-offer program built on Cardlytics and added in August 2022. Retailers such as Costco, Office Depot, Adidas, and Finish Line funded per-store cash-back deals, and a holder had to activate each deal in the app. None of this is reachable now — the program closed in June 2023.
BitPay Card Fees and Pricing
The figures below are the terms of the discontinued program, retained for the record. They do not apply to any active card, because no active card exists. bitpay.com is currently unreachable to re-verify these values against the issuer.
BitPay Card Purchase and ATM Limits
The caps below were the defunct program’s limits, tied to a fully verified account. They are listed for the record and apply to no active card.
Eligibility and Availability — Countries and States
The program is discontinued. On May 17, 2023, BitPay emailed cardholders that Metropolitan Commercial Bank was ending its crypto-banking relationship and that the card program would wind down: last load June 1, 2023, last spend or ATM withdrawal June 15, 2023, and remaining balances mailed by check around June 30, 2023. Existing cards were deactivated on that schedule.
BitPay directed customers to a waitlist for a future replacement card. That replacement has not launched, three years later. Joining the waitlist is the only action available, and it leads to a card that does not yet exist. There is no path — for anyone, new or existing — to a working BitPay card today.
Restricted Countries
The card was only ever issued to US residents, and there was never a UK, EU, or Asia-Pacific version. With the program discontinued, it is now unavailable everywhere, the United States included.
Funding Rails
There is no way to fund a BitPay Card. Loading ended on June 1, 2023, and the card program shut down entirely by June 15, 2023. While the program operated, three rails fed one USD balance — the BitPay Wallet, a linked exchange account, and Mastercard rePower cash reloads — but none of these accept funds now, because there is no active card to load.
Security, Custody, and Freeze Risk
The one genuinely clean part of this story is the exit. Metropolitan Commercial Bank, a Member FDIC institution, issued the card and held the dollar balances. When the program wound down in 2023, remaining balances were returned to holders by check rather than stranded or frozen — an orderly closure on regulated banking rails.
That said, there is no custody today because there are no funds held: every account was cashed out in mid-2023. The bank’s exit from crypto banking is what killed the program, and no replacement banking partner has been named since. Nothing is at risk now only because nothing is held.
App, Controls, and Support
There is nothing to manage. While the card was live, the BitPay app issued a virtual card, provisioned it to Apple Pay and Google Pay, and handled freeze, PIN changes, and alerts. With the card program discontinued, none of these controls apply to a functioning card.
Support still runs through BitPay’s general help desk for wallet and payment products, but there is no active card program to support. bitpay.com is currently unreachable to confirm the live state of these channels.
Tax and Record-Keeping
This is moot for a discontinued card — there are no new loads or purchases to track. For the record, while the program operated its preload structure meant spending drew down dollars rather than triggering a crypto sale at checkout; the taxable moment sat at load. Holders who were cashed out by check in 2023 should keep the shutdown-related records (final balance returned, load history) for that tax year, but there is no ongoing activity to log.
Final Verdict
BitPay and Metropolitan Commercial Bank discontinued the program in June 2023 — last load June 1, last spend June 15, balances mailed by check by month’s end. Existing cards were deactivated, and the replacement BitPay pointed customers toward has never launched. A card that no one can obtain or use cannot be recommended, and the specs it once had are beside the point. The only credit the program earns is the manner of its closure: an FDIC-member bank issued it, and balances were returned to holders in full by check rather than frozen. That keeps the score off the floor, but not by much. Everything else — spending, funding, availability, rewards — is a zero or near-zero because there is no functioning product behind it.
(Defunct) Up to 15% offers at select retailers, (Defunct) Cash reloads via Mastercard rePower, (Defunct) USDC loads converted near 1:1
Why it stands out
- Balances returned in full by check at shutdown
- Issued by an FDIC-member bank while active
What to consider
- Discontinued June 2023 — card no longer works
- Cards deactivated; waitlist leads to no card
- Replacement program still unlaunched after 3 yrs
- Program was reward-free even when it was alive
- Formerly US-only, no international version
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