How a crypto card works, from tap to reward

The steps

1. You tap the card or phone. The terminal sends the payment through Visa or Mastercard like any card.
2. The card issuer checks your available balance. Depending on the card, that is a CAD balance or crypto the platform can sell.
3. If crypto must be sold, the platform sells it at its price (often with a spread). That sale is a disposition for tax.
4. The merchant is paid in dollars. It never touches crypto.
5. Your reward is calculated and credited, in crypto or CAD, on the issuer’s schedule.

The parts

Cards verified for Canadians as of November 3, 2026: Shakepay Card, Crypto.com Visa, ether.fi Cash, MetaMask Card.

What happens behind a single tap?

The terminal sends the payment to Visa or Mastercard like any card. The issuing bank (Peoples Trust Company for Shakepay; Digital Commerce Bank for Crypto.com) checks your balance through the program manager. On Shakepay and Crypto.com that balance is Canadian dollars you loaded earlier. On MetaMask Card, the token you funded the card with is converted at checkout. The merchant is paid in dollars and never sees crypto. A reward is then calculated on the settled amount and credited in bitcoin, CRO or mUSD.

What happens on a $100 purchase with each verified card?

Where does the money for rewards come from?

Card networks pay the issuer an interchange fee on each purchase, funded by the merchant’s side. Programs add subscription fees and, for staked tiers, the platform’s own economics. That is why rewards are usually a percentage of spending and why many programs cap them.

What changes when the card is self-custody?

With MetaMask Card the platform never holds your tokens. You keep them in your own wallet and the card program draws on them at checkout. That removes the risk of a platform freezing or losing your coins, but it also removes account recovery: if you lose the seed phrase or sign a malicious transaction, nobody can reverse it. It also means each purchase from a crypto token is a disposition for tax.

How do I load a crypto card?

Shakepay cards spend your Shakepay CAD balance, which you fund by Interac e-Transfer or by selling crypto in the app. Crypto.com cards can only be loaded with Canadian dollars, up to C$15,000 a day and C$35,000 a month, from your cash account or by converting crypto first. MetaMask Card draws on the tokens in the wallet you connect, on the networks the card supports (Linea, Base, Monad and Solana).

What should I compare first?

1. Who holds the crypto (custodial or self-custody).
2. Whether the card spends CAD or sells crypto at the till (tax records).
3. Fees and the foreign-currency fee at your spending.
4. What the reward is paid in and whether a stake is required.
5. The platform’s regulatory status on the CSA list.

How do the four verified cards fit these types?

Is a crypto-backed “credit card” the same as a bank credit card?

No. ether.fi’s Borrow Mode lends against your crypto at a variable rate set by Aave markets, with no grace period, and the collateral can be liquidated if it falls. A bank credit card is unsecured credit with a statement cycle, a grace period on purchases if you pay in full, and reporting to Canadian credit bureaus. The ether.fi pages we read do not say whether Borrow Mode reports to Canadian bureaus.

Which type has the better dispute rights?

All card payments go through Visa or Mastercard dispute rules, which apply to card purchases whatever the card type. Shakepay’s agreement asks you to raise a dispute in writing within 60 days. Disputes do not reach crypto you sent on-chain, so a self-custody transfer to a scammer is not recoverable through the card.

Which is cheaper to run?

At $600 a month of spending, the worked example above shows that a no-fee prepaid card already nets more than paid tiers whose fee needs a higher break-even spend. The card type matters less than fees, FX and conversion costs at your own spending.

Educational information, not financial, tax or legal advice. 6 min read. Reviewed October 31, 2026.