A virtual-only crypto card with unclear fees and frozen-card complaints

Updated October 2026

Licensed

Available in US

Fast payouts

18+ Only

LinkPay is a virtual crypto card that you load with digital currency and then spend like an ordinary payment card online. It has no physical version, no cash machine, and it is not yet usable in Apple Pay or Google Pay — the company says both are “coming soon”. There is a free plan, four paid plans priced from $59 to $209 a month, and three identity-verification tiers that decide how much you can spend. My score for it is 5.0 out of 10.

The conditions described below are current as of October 28, 2026.

Verdict: 5.0 out of 10

This is a card for a specific situation: you hold crypto, you need a spending balance loaded with it, you live somewhere the card will accept you, and you can wait through a verification process that reportedly sometimes takes weeks or months. If you have that combination, it does one job competently. If you need a card for everyday life — a card in your wallet, a card in Apple Pay, cash from a machine, money out at the end of the month — this is the wrong card, because those things do not exist here.

The score breaks down as follows.

Total: 5.0 / 10.

The last row is the one that decides my verdict. A card that only exists as a number on a screen, cannot be added to a phone wallet yet, and has no cash machine is not really a payment card for daily life — it is a prepaid online spending balance with a card number attached. That is a perfectly good product for some people, and a poor substitute for a bank card for everyone else.

One group the card appears designed for, judging by the plan structure, is non-Russian advertisers who need many virtual cards: the plans bundle free cards per month and team seats, and the Lite plan is described as “advertising cards only”. If that is you, the cost picture still needs reading carefully, because the free-plan transaction fee is the one that hurts.

Will they give you the card?

Yes, in a large number of countries, with an explicit list of places where the service is closed.

The card’s own pages say the service is not provided in 27 listed countries, including the Russian Federation and Belarus, as well as Hong Kong, the United States, Ukraine, Iran, Cuba, Syria, North Korea and others. The Terms additionally bar residents and citizens of the listed countries, and state that US citizens, permanent residents and US entities cannot open accounts. That last point matters more than it looks: it is not about where you live, it is about what you hold. A US passport holder living in Berlin is refused on citizenship grounds alone.

The company’s own page links to a “Certain Countries” document, and that document is not shown publicly on the pages I could read — the eligibility rules themselves are not stated in full. The company does say its list is “not exhaustive”, which means there may be more exclusions than the 27 named.

Unofficial figures, from third-party card-comparison sites rather than from LinkPay: availability in 168 countries with 28 restricted, China appearing on the map but not in the body text, and Russia recorded as restricted as of 11 August 2026. Those numbers are not confirmed by the card.

One further thing to check before you spend time here. The card’s public pages do not state a minimum age, though prepaid and debit cards in this category generally go to adults aged 18 and over, with some issuers setting higher limits. The Terms are the place to confirm.

How to get it

You need an account, an identity-verification level, and a card issued into it. The page does not spell out the sign-up flow in detail — it links to an Anti Money Laundering page whose content is not shown — but the pieces that matter are documented.

There are three verification levels, and the level you reach sets your monthly ceiling:

• No verification — $500/month, and advertising cards only.
• Basic — $2,000/month, all cards except Apple/Google Pay, and requires full name, address and ID details.
• Unlimited — no spending or card-type limits, requiring a photo of a valid ID and a live check.

Verification is generally completed within 24 hours, but it can take longer. Rejected documents can go to manual review, and the official reasons for rejection are not listed beyond “valid documents with clear photos” — which is not much of a list, so expect some friction.

The card itself is virtual: a “Virtual card for all purchases”. There is no physical version offered. Cards run on the Visa or Mastercard networks, though the page does not say which one your card will get or in which currency it will be denominated — the FAQ says USD cards are “planned to release soon”, which leaves the current denomination unclear. Delivery details are not stated, because there is nothing to deliver.

Two practical notes. The same page says Apple Pay and Google Pay are in “final integration” and will be available soon, and that they are not available at Basic verification — so even when they arrive, the top tier of card functionality waits for the top tier of verification. And because the card is virtual only, anything that needs a plastic card in a reader is ruled out.

Fees: what it really costs

Here is the honest version: the numbers on the home page and the numbers in the Terms do not agree, and in several places they differ a lot. Treat both as claims by the company, and check which applies to you before relying on either.

The Ultra row is the clearest example of the problem: the home page says $209 a month with 79 free cards and 2% cashback, the Terms say $299 a month with 100 free cards and a cashback cap of $299 per billing cycle against Pro’s $179. Both cannot be right. The Lite per-card issue price is not stated at all, and if the free plan includes no free cards, that is the number you would need.

Cashback is capped per billing cycle, and the Terms state it cannot be withdrawn to a bank.

Now three everyday payments, so the percentages turn into money. I am using only the card’s own figures.

• A $20 online subscription on Lite: 2% with a $2 minimum, and 2% of $20 is $0.40, so the floor replaces it — you pay $2 in fees on a $20 purchase.
• The same $20 subscription on Pro: 1% with no stated minimum, so $0.20. The home page lists the Pro deposit fee as free, while the Terms list it at 0.5%.
• A declined payment on Lite: 2% on the home page, 0.5% in the Terms. If a bank blocks a recurring charge or a merchant declines it, the fee quoted is one of those two numbers, and you cannot tell which from the public pages.

Two things are simply not stated: any foreign-exchange fee, and any ATM fee, the latter being largely beside the point for a virtual card. The FX gap matters, because a card that converts your balance at payment time with no published FX margin is a card whose cost at the currency counter you cannot calculate in advance.

Top up

The only way in is crypto. Fiat and on-ramp top-ups are “planned”, not available.

The page advertises “Deposit options for 7+ digital currencies” without naming the coins or the networks in that line. Unofficial sources name BTC and USDT and mention the TRC20 and BTC networks, and say there is no bank transfer option. The confirmation times the card gives are 20 confirmations for TRC20 and from 4 for BTC.

Two practical constraints sit under the crypto-only rule:

• A minimum activation balance is shown in your dashboard before issuance, “usually around $15”. If your deposit is below that minimum, issuance fails.
• The deposit fee is charged on top: 1% on Lite, 0.75% on Plus, 0.5% on Pro and free on Ultra per the Terms, while the home page says Pro and Ultra are both free.

Who pays the blockchain network fee for your deposit is not stated. That matters because network fees are charged by the blockchain, not by the card provider, so on a busy network the amount is outside the company’s control.

Getting money back out works differently from putting it in. The Terms say withdrawals are requested from the Wallet and processed “during 10 working days”, with the fee “free on all plans” — directly contradicting the home page’s 3% / 3% / 2% / 1%. Cashback cannot be withdrawn to a bank. If you close the account, remaining funds are sent to the payment details you specified, minus fees. Records are kept for 5 years. You cannot withdraw from the platform directly to a LinkPay card. Internal transfers between users work by recipient email.

The category background is worth holding in mind while you pick a network. On ERC-20, gas is paid only in ETH, so a wallet holding USDT and no ETH cannot send anything. Tron prices fees through bandwidth and energy, often burning TRX. Circle stopped supporting USDC on Tron in February 2024, so “USDC over TRC20” is not a native option. And blockchain transfers are irreversible: a deposit sent on a network the provider does not support, or to an address belonging to another network, can be lost or need manual support recovery with no guarantee.

Paying with it every day

Daily use is where this card is weakest. It is virtual only, there is no ATM, and the phone wallets are not live yet.

• Apple Pay and Google Pay are “in final integration, will be available soon” per the company. Unofficial sources point to a conflict on the site’s own pages: one page says selected virtual cards can be added to the e-wallet, the FAQ says “coming soon”.
• Cashback is 0% on Lite, 0% on Plus, 1% on Pro and 2% on Ultra. A headline on the site says “2% cashback for all payments”, which does not match the plan table. The payout currency is not stated.
• Apps are on the App Store and Google Play, plus a direct .APK download. Ratings are not shown on the site’s own pages.

What to expect when a payment does not go cleanly, from the card’s own disclosure:

• Failed transactions with a pending authorisation return funds in 5–10 minutes.
• Merchant refunds usually arrive within 4 weeks.
• Holds, for example on advertising platforms, usually last 10–14 days.
• Top-ups to an unverified card are automatically cancelled, with refunds in 2–14 business days.
• Top-ups to a verified card are non-refundable.
• The customer is responsible for chargebacks and disputed transactions.
• Complaints are reviewed within 30 days, and there is no chargeback process described in the FAQ.

That last pair are the ones I would read twice. You carry the chargeback risk, and the FAQ does not tell you what the process is. If a subscription renews while your balance is short, or a merchant takes a payment and does not deliver, you are the one resolving it.

Nothing on the public pages lists blocked merchant categories. In this category that omission is worth noticing rather than relaxing about — gambling (MCC 7995) is a category many issuers block by policy, and blocked lists vary by issuer. If gambling or advertising spend is your use case, you will want that list from support in writing.

What can go wrong

Start with the company, because the ownership question comes up a lot and the public pages answer it only partly.

LinkPay is registered in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada, with MSB registration M23039048. An MSB registration is a money-services registration, not a banking licence, and no issuing bank or BIN sponsor is named on the pages I could read. That matters more here than it would for a normal prepaid card, for the reason below.

The model is custodial: your balance sits in a Wallet inside the platform, and the provider holds the credentials. In that arrangement you are trusting the provider with the whole balance, and the Terms state that the Administrator may suspend all wallets without notice on suspicion or violation, and that funds may be frozen during an investigation. The account locks after 3 failed login attempts. The site displays GDPR, ISO and PCI DSS badges, and insurance is not stated. Freeze and unfreeze of a card is available only on subscription or custom plans — so on the free plan, a card you need to stop cannot be frozen by you.

The complaints are the part that gives me pause. On Trustpilot the card scores 2 out of 5 from roughly 39–40 reviews. Other review platforms show scores of about 2.3 from 44 reviews on Trustpilot and about 4.7 from ten reviews, some of those via vendor invitation, and describe support as slow and repetitive. Reported patterns:

• A card frozen shortly before a transaction, reportedly unfrozen only after buying a paid plan.
• Withdrawals stuck in “processing” for 4+ weeks.
• Waits of months for a card to be issued at all.

Company replies to these cite security protocols and insufficient verification. A competitor card’s site (Halocard, no date shown, treat with caution) says banking-partner trouble froze cards and withdrawals during a move to a new partner, with waits of three months. LinkPay itself has not stated anything of the kind. No Reddit discussion was found.

Whether or not each account is legitimate, the pattern is the one this category has taught people to expect. A card programme depends on three parties: the network routes messages, the issuer holds the programme and is licensed, and the brand is often just a programme manager in front. Visa and Mastercard do not issue crypto cards themselves — they license issuers and can suspend a programme. WaveCrest was suspended by Visa in Europe in 2018, closing all its Visa programmes. Visa terminated its global agreements with FTX on 13 November 2022 and the FTX debit card was wound down. Programme closures typically mean a notice period, then loading and spending stop, then you are asked to withdraw your balance. One 2026 closure reported by a secondary source, unconfirmed, ended new loads on 8 July 2026 and spending on 8 August 2026.

None of that is a prediction about LinkPay. It is the reason I would not hold a large balance here, and the reason I would keep only what I need for the current month.

Two more things to know. Custodial platforms have a real failure record: Mt. Gox (about US$350 million reported stolen, 2011–2014), Coincheck (about US$400 million, 2018) and Ronin Network (US$625 million, 2022). And your funds are not bank deposits — an e-money institution must safeguard customer funds by segregating them or insuring them, but that is not the same as a deposit guarantee scheme, and LinkPay’s Terms say nothing about insurance.

Support is a Telegram bot (t.me/Anna_LinkPay_Premium_Support_Bot), email and live chat on the website, in English.

What to take instead

If the reason you are here is that an ordinary bank card is hard to get, there are three comparable crypto cards. I have scored them on the same basis: Cardex 5.6, CardFlow 4.9, HyperCard 4.7. None of them is dramatically better, and each has the same structural gaps.

Two of these deserve a note. Cardex is the only one with a physical card option and a funding set that includes USDC, and it converts at the moment of payment using what it calls an AI-powered conversion rate — but no fee percentage is published, and its app listing is Naira-focused, which is a signal about who it really serves. CardFlow is the odd one out in a useful way: you can fund it with a Naira bank transfer, which is precisely what LinkPay cannot do, and its virtual card is created in three minutes.

The honest comparison, though, is that all four are thin. Three of the four publish no fee percentage at all, which makes them harder to plan with, not easier. Score them against your own situation rather than against the marketing.

Who I would recommend it to

I would recommend this card to someone who already has crypto sitting on an exchange, needs a spending balance today, lives in a country that is not on the exclusion list, is not a US citizen or permanent resident, and only needs to pay online. If you work in advertising and need several virtual cards, the plan structure is aimed at you, and the higher tiers genuinely reduce the per-payment cost.

I would not recommend it if any of these apply: you need a physical card; you need Apple Pay or Google Pay; you need cash; you need to top up from a bank account; you need to get money out to a bank quickly; you need certainty about what a declined payment will cost you; or you are in the United States, or hold US citizenship or a green card. I would also hold off if the amount involved is money you would miss — the complaint pattern around frozen cards and stuck withdrawals is exactly the situation where a large balance hurts you most.

Before you commit, do three things. Read the Terms yourself and compare the two fee tables line by line, because the company has not done it for you. Ask support in writing which Ultra price applies and which withdrawal fee applies. And check the currency your card will be issued in, because the FAQ calls USD cards “planned to release soon” and no other currency is stated — if you are not in the US, an unstated FX fee on every payment is a real cost.

Finally, a word on tax, because people ask and I am not the right person to advise you. Digital assets are generally treated as property for tax purposes, so exchanging them for goods, services or dollars produces a taxable gain or loss, measured in local currency at the value on the date of the transaction. Each card payment funded from crypto may therefore be a separate disposal. That is a description of how the rule works, not advice — take your own advice on what it means for you.

Frequently asked questions

What is the LinkPay card?

LinkPay is a virtual crypto payment card. You load it with digital currency, the balance is converted and spent like a prepaid card, and there is no physical version — the card exists as a number in an app. It runs on Visa or Mastercard networks. It suits people who hold crypto and want a spending balance without a bank account.

How does the LinkPay card work?

You create an account, pass one of three verification levels, get a virtual card issued, and top it up with crypto. The card draws on the stored balance, so it cannot overdraw. Payments are charged a transaction fee that falls as your plan rises: 2% with a $2 minimum on the free Lite plan, down to 1% on Pro and Ultra.

Is LinkPay a bank?

No, not as far as the public pages state. LinkPay is registered in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada, with money-services registration M23039048. That is a money-transmitter registration, not a banking licence, and the issuing bank or BIN sponsor is not named. Your balance is custodial, held in a Wallet inside the platform.

Who owns LinkPay?

The public pages name the company and its Canadian registration, but not an owning entity, founders or an issuing bank. So the answer is partial: the operator is LinkPay, registered in Canada, and the bank behind the card programme is not disclosed on the pages I could read.

Can I use the LinkPay card in my country?

In many countries, but not all. The service is not provided in 27 listed countries including the Russian Federation, Belarus, Hong Kong, the United States, Ukraine, Iran, Cuba, Syria and North Korea, and the company says its list is not exhaustive. US citizens, permanent residents and US entities cannot open accounts at all, wherever they live.

How do I get a LinkPay card?

You sign up, then complete one of three verification levels: no verification for $500 a month and advertising cards only; Basic for $2,000 a month; or Unlimited with a photo of a valid ID and a live check, with no spending or card-type limits. Verification usually completes within 24 hours but can take longer, and rejected documents can go to manual review.

Does the LinkPay card require KYC?

Yes, above the lowest level. No verification gives you $500 a month but advertising cards only. Basic requires full name, address and ID details. The highest level requires a photo of a valid ID and a live check. The card links to an anti-money-laundering page, though its content is not shown publicly, and the exact procedure is not stated on the sign-up pages.

How do I top up the LinkPay card?

With crypto only — the page advertises 7+ digital currencies, and unofficial sources name BTC and USDT on the TRC20 and BTC networks. Fiat and on-ramp options are “planned”. A minimum activation balance, usually around $15, is shown in your dashboard, and a deposit below it fails; a deposit fee of 1% on Lite applies on top.

Is the LinkPay card free?

The Lite plan is free but includes no free cards per month, and its transaction fee is 2% with a $2 minimum — which bites hard on small purchases. Paid plans are Plus at $59 a month, Pro at $179 and Ultra at $209 on the home page, though the Terms list Ultra at $299. Those two official figures disagree.

Is the LinkPay card safe, and can I use it in Apple Wallet?

Safety is the open question here. It is custodial, so the provider holds your balance and can suspend wallets without notice; Trustpilot shows 2 out of 5 from roughly 39–40 reviews, with reports of frozen cards and withdrawals stuck 4+ weeks. Apple Pay and Google Pay are described as in “final integration” and “coming soon”, so they are not usable today.

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