Rewards vs fees, on your own spending
Net yearly value of each card and tier after fees, foreign-currency and ATM costs, from the issuers’ published terms. Change the numbers or pick an example budget.
On $1,500 a month in Canadian purchases plus $150 in foreign currency, Shakepay at Base status earns $198 a year in bitcoin and pays $54 in FX fees. ether.fi Cash earns more but is offshore and pays in its own token. Paid, staked and status tiers only pay off in the months, or above the spend, where they qualify.
Figures as of November 3, 2026.
Your month
Rewards are valued in CAD on the day they are credited. If they are paid in crypto, their value later moves with the coin: see the volatility tool.
| Card / tier | Rewards | Fixed fees | FX cost | Conversion | ATM | Net | Break-even spend / month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ether.fi Cash — Core paid in ETHFI · offshore, not CSA-registered | $594 | $0 | $0 | −$99 | $0 | $495 | $0 |
| ether.fi Cash — Luxe paid in ETHFI · offshore, not CSA-registered | $594 | −$278 | $0 | −$50 | $0 | $267 | $842 |
| Shakepay Card — Base paid in BTC | $198 | $0 | −$54 | $0 | $0 | $144 | $0 |
| Crypto.com Visa — Ruby Steel (annual subscription) paid in CRO | $189 capped | −$70 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $119 | $388 |
| Crypto.com Visa — Royal Indigo / Jade Green (annual subscription) paid in CRO | $495 | −$400 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $95 | $1,333 |
| MetaMask Card paid in mUSD · offshore, not CSA-registered | $198 | $0 | −$18 | −$99 | $0 | $81 | $0 |
| Shakepay Card — Base from Dec 1, 2026 paid in BTC | $99 | $0 | −$54 | $0 | $0 | $45 | $0 |
| Crypto.com Visa — Midnight Blue paid in CRO | $0 | $0 | −$36 | $0 | $0 | −$36 | $0 |
| ether.fi Cash — Pinnacle paid in ETHFI · offshore, not CSA-registered | $594 | −$1,396 | $0 | $0 | $0 | −$802 | $3,878 |
How does the calculator work?
For every verified card and tier, it multiplies your monthly purchases by the issuer’s reward rate, walking through any spend bands or caps the issuer publishes (Crypto.com’s US-dollar caps and ether.fi’s 3% / 1% / 0.5% bands are converted to CAD at the Bank of Canada rate). It then subtracts the fixed fee for a year, the foreign-currency fee on your foreign purchases above any free allowance, the card’s own conversion fee on everything you spend, any funding cost you enter, and percentage ATM fees. The result is a net yearly value, valued in CAD on the day rewards are credited.
Which tiers are hidden by default, and why?
Two kinds of tier are hidden until you tick them. Status tiers such as Shakepay Bright and Blue depend on activity your spending alone does not show: exchanging $100 or $1,000 of crypto in the month, or receiving direct deposits. Staked tiers such as Crypto.com Ruby Steel to Obsidian need CA$650 to CA$650,000 of CRO locked for a year, which the table cannot value. Showing them by default would rank a condition you may not meet, or a bet you have not made, as the best card.
What does the conversion column mean?
Self-custody and US-dollar cards charge to convert what you spend. MetaMask’s fee table charges 0.5% to spend a US-dollar stablecoin at a Canadian merchant and 0.875% for other tokens. ether.fi adds an FX margin of 0.5% (Core) on any non-USD purchase, including CAD. Cards that spend a CAD balance show $0 here. If you buy crypto to fund any card, add your own spread in the funding-cost box.
How should I read break-even?
Break-even is the monthly spend at which a tier’s rewards, after conversion fees, pay for its fixed fee. A paid tier is only worth it if you spend above that line every month. “Never” means the tier’s cap stops rewards before they can cover the fee.
What the calculator leaves out
- Tax on rewards or on crypto you spend: see taxes on crypto rewards.
- Price moves in the reward coin after it lands: see reward value after volatility.
- Subscription rebates, lounge access and other perks.
- Spreads a platform builds into its exchange rate when you buy or sell crypto, unless you enter them as a funding cost.
| Card and tier | Shakepay Card — Base |
|---|---|
| Purchases in CAD | $1,500 a month |
| Purchases in a foreign currency | $150 a month |
| Rewards (at the CAD value when credited) | $198.00 a year1% of eligible spend, paid in BTC |
| Fixed fees | $0.00 |
| Foreign-currency fees | −$54.00 |
| Net a year | $144.00No fixed fee to recover. |
Open this example in the calculator →Computed 2026-11-03.
What this means for you
Rank cards by the net column, not the reward rate. Then check the stake column: a tier that needs locked tokens is a bet on that token as well as a card.