Crypto card cashback: the cap matters more than the rate
The cashback rate is the first number anyone looks at. Put 3% next to 1.5% and the choice looks obvious. What almost no comparison tells you is how much spending that 3% actually applies to — and that turns out to matter more than the rate itself.
The short version: the best card for someone spending $740 a month is not the best card for someone spending $3,700. The same card can be first place for one person and pay literally nothing to the other.
1. What the caps actually look like
On the free tier, here is what each issuer publishes.
| Card | Published structure (free tier) | Most you can get per month |
|---|---|---|
| KAST Standard | 1.5% on the first $2,000 of monthly spend, nothing above that | $30 |
| Ether.fi Core | 3% on the first $2,000 → 1% on the next $1,000 → 0.5% after that | 0.5% continues with no cap |
| Jupiter | 2% base, no monthly cap stated in the docs | Not stated |
| TRIA Virtual | 1.5% on the first $100 a month, 0.5% above that | Effectively $1.50 + 0.5% |
| Pionex | Up to 1% | Not stated |
Every card page on this site carries a source link on each individual fee row. Where an issuer publishes a range, the range is kept rather than averaged.
One thing already stands out. TRIA's 1.5% applies to the first $100 a month. Above that it is 0.5%. On paper it matches KAST's 1.5%; in practice it is a completely different card.
2. Spending $740 a month
At this level nobody has hit a cap yet, so the published rates hold.
| Card | Working | Monthly cashback | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ether.fi Core | 740 × 3% | $22.20 | 3.00% |
| Jupiter | 740 × 2% | $14.80 | 2.00% |
| KAST Standard | 740 × 1.5% | $11.10 | 1.50% |
| Pionex | 740 × 1% | $7.40 | 1.00% |
| TRIA Virtual | 100 × 1.5% + 640 × 0.5% | $4.70 | 0.63% |
The order matches the headline rates. Ether.fi wins. The exception is TRIA, which advertises 1.5% and delivers 0.63% — the cap is doing all the work.
3. Spending $3,700 a month
| Card | Working | Monthly cashback | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jupiter | 3,700 × 2% | $74.00 | 2.00% |
| Ether.fi Core | 2,000×3% + 1,000×1% + 700×0.5% | $73.50 | 1.99% |
| Pionex | 3,700 × 1% | $37.00 | 1.00% |
| KAST Standard | 2,000 × 1.5%, nothing above | $30.00 | 0.81% |
| TRIA Virtual | 100×1.5% + 3,600×0.5% | $19.50 | 0.53% |
The ranking flips. Ether.fi's 3% only reaches the first $2,000, so it settles at 1.99%, while Jupiter's uncapped 2% simply keeps going and takes first place.
KAST is the sharper example. The headline says 1.5%; the effective rate is 0.81%, because once the month passes $2,000 the rest of that month's spending earns nothing at all.
4. So what does this particular purchase earn?
Those tables average a whole month. In practice it depends on where in the month the purchase falls.
If you are on KAST and you have already spent $2,000 this month, today's purchase earns exactly zero. That feels very different from the 0.81% monthly average.
The real cost calculator works this way on purpose. It asks for the purchase and for your month-to-date spending separately, then shows what this specific purchase costs. Raise the monthly figure and you can watch the ranking change.
5. Cards that do not pay cashback in cash
There is one more variable the tables above leave out: what the cashback is paid in.
- Ether.fi pays in ETHFI tokens — not cash, not a stablecoin. You need $5 accumulated before you can claim, and there is a 7-day lock.
- TRIA accrues in USDT on Arbitrum, but pays quarterly, with settlement waits of up to 90 days.
- KAST pays in USD. Of the cards here it is the only straightforwardly cash one.
Cashback paid in a token is valued at the price on the day it lands. What it is worth when you sell is a separate question. Whether $22 in a token beats $11 in dollars is not a question the numbers alone answer.
6. There is a bigger cost sitting next to this one
While you optimise for an extra 1% of cashback, something larger can be leaking quietly.
- Foreign currency fees. Paying in a currency other than the card's triggers a conversion — 0.5%–1.75% on KAST, 1%–1.8% on Jupiter, up to 3% on TRIA. That spread is wider than the cashback differences.
- What you paid for the stablecoin. If you bought it at a local premium, that cost applies regardless of card, and comparisons almost always omit it.
The calculator adds both of these to the cashback figure, and the ranking shifts again.
In short
- Read cashback as rate × cap. The rate alone will mislead you.
- Below roughly $2,000 a month, the headline rates hold.
- Above that, an uncapped card wins even at a lower rate.
- Spending past the cap can earn nothing whatsoever for the rest of the month.
- Check what the cashback is actually paid in.
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