BlockFi Releases Visa Rewards Credit Card to US Clients

In December 2020, the “BlockFi Rewards Visa Signature Credit Card” formed a waitlist which has grown to over 400,000 people in the past seven months.

article-image

Source: BlockFi

share

key takeaways

  • Unlike regular credit card reward programs, cardholders will be able to earn 1.5% back in bitcoin on every purchase they make and a 3.5% bitcoin rewards rate for the first 90 days of opening their account.
  • The bitcoin rewards are transferable on a monthly cycle to the cardholder’s BlockFI Interest Account, which can accrue daily crypto interest, which means “even more bitcoin” will be available for customers, the company said.

BlockFi, a wealth management and trading firm for cryptocurrency holders, announced it has officially launched its Visa rewards credit card for a handful of its US-based clients, providing users with cryptos returns when they use the card.

In December 2020, the “BlockFi Rewards Visa Signature Credit Card” formed a waitlist which has grown to over 400,000 people in the past seven months. The BlockFi card will begin shipping to selected and approved US residents in qualifying states, the company said. 

“Following successful beta testing, BlockFi and its partners have begun offering those first in line on the credit card waitlist to apply and releasing the card to select clients,” the company said in a statement. 

The waitlist is ordered on a first come first serve basis but if an applicant refers others, it helps push their position in line higher, the company said. Like a regular credit card, it can be used in any place where Visa is accepted. 

“We intend on working through all eligible US residents on the waitlist as quickly as possible,”  Andrew Tam, CMO of BlockFi, said in an interview with Blockworks.

Unlike regular credit card reward programs, cardholders will be able to earn 1.5% back in bitcoin on every purchase they make and an introductory offer of 3.5% bitcoin rewards rate for the first 90 days of opening their account. Cardholders can also earn 2% back in bitcoin on every dollar spent over $50,000 annually, it said. 

However, the introductory offer is capped at $100 in bitcoin, which equates to about $5,000 of spending to earn an additional $100 in bitcoin and cardholders will receive 0.25% back in bitcoin on eligible trades, with a maximum of $500 in bitcoin each month, according to the fine print. 

The bitcoin rewards are transferable on a monthly cycle to the cardholder’s BlockFI Interest Account, which can accrue daily crypto interest, which means “even more bitcoin” will be available for customers, the company said. 

In addition to earning bitcoin, there is no annual fee and cardholders can earn bonuses on stablecoin, trading and referring friends. 

As the digital currency industry grows in popularity, crypto rewards programs like this are a compelling way to engage consumers in the crypto economy, said Terry Angelos, SVP and global head of fintech at Visa.

“The crypto industry has come a long way since the first bitcoin payment transaction 11 years ago,” said Flori Marquez, co-founder and senior vice president of operations at BlockFi. “Today, nearly everyone knows about the important role crypto plays in reshaping the financial space, and our new credit card is set to be another game-changer. This card will make it easier than ever for people to earn bitcoin back while making day-to-day purchases.”

Separately, Visa’s crypto teams have focused on partnering with exchanges, wallets, and platforms to help them issue Visa cards, helping banks integrate crypto features, Blockworks previously reported. Visa also created an application programming interface, or API, in February that lets banks offer bitcoin services to their customers.

Tags

    Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

    Upcoming Events

    Old Billingsgate

    Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

    Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

    Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

    TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

    Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

    Brooklyn, NY

    SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

    Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

    recent research

    Research Report Templates (8).png

    Research

    Meta-aggregators like Titan and Kamino Swap improve price execution for users, making the Solana swapping landscape more competitive. Jupiter has incorporated meta-aggregation features into its latest routing engine to keep users on its front end (own the user, own the flow). At large, teams are treating swaps as a commoditized complement, offering incredibly cheap or free swaps to own the end-user and increase demand for high-margin product offerings (multi-product DeFi). On another note, the divergence in the concentration of aggregator volume between DEXs suggests increased specialization at the DEX layer by asset type.

    article-image

    Investors moved to safe assets like the US dollar and gold, but bonds faltered

    article-image

    The Amex offers up to 4% bitcoin back, but the deal is a bit ironic considering crypto’s goals

    article-image

    Short answer: Subnets are now cheaper to bootstrap than a Celestia rollup

    article-image

    Few things are more cypherpunk than keeping keys in your brain wallet

    article-image

    Many community banks and credit unions feel like they missed the fintech craze — and they don’t want to miss stablecoins

    article-image

    BlackRock COO Rob Goldstein noted that the firm had been looking into crypto since 2017