Crypto.com is significantly lowering the rewards of its popular debit cards
Crypto.com announced Sunday that its Crypto.com Visa debit cards will soon be less enticing. Starting June 1, 2022, the suite of debit cards will earn significantly lower rewards, and rewards for the Ruby Steel and the Royal Indigo/Jade Green cards will now have a monthly rewards cap.
Starting June 1, the Ruby Steel and Royal Indigo/Jade Green cards will have a monthly rewards cap of $25 and $50 respectively. The limits will reset on the first of every calendar month. The card rewards will also be dramatically lowered.
Credit Cards
Initially, the company was also planning to remove CRO staking rewards completely, further limiting the card's utility. However, following community backlash, crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek took to Twitter to address the changes.
"Instead of eliminating card staking earn rates completely, we will offer a more balanced approach: 8% APY for Private Members (Obsidian, Icy White, and Frosted Rose Gold) 4% APY for Royal Indigo and Jade Green card holders," he wrote on Twitter.
According to the company's blog post, the changes are being implemented "to ensure long-term sustainability." Further, cardholders who began staking before May 1 will continue to earn the current rewards until their 180-day staking period expires. Following that period, cardholders will earn the updated card rewards and new CRO staking APY.
Here are the new CRO cash back rates:
Card tier | CRO cash back while not staking | CRO cash back while staking | Previous rewards |
Ruby Steel | 0% | 0.5% | 2% |
Royal Indigo/Jade Green | 0.5% | 1.5% | 3% |
Icy White / Frosted Rose Gold | 1% | 3% | 5% |
Obsidian | 2% | 5% | 8% |
Keep in mind, to reach the advanced card tiers, cardholders will need to stake a specific number of CRO tokens for 180 days:
- Midnight Blue: $0 USD worth of CRO staked
- Ruby Steel: $400 USD worth of CRO staked
- Royal Indigo/Jade Green: $4,000 USD worth of CRO staked
- Rose Gold/Icy White: $40,000 USD worth of CRO staked
- Obsidian: $400,000 USD worth of CRO staked
Based on these requirements and the new changes, the cards hardly seem worth it. Between the monthly rewards cap of $25 and $50, the decreased CRO cash back, lower staking APY, and $400 to $4,000 USD worth of CRO staking requirement, the entry-level Ruby Steel and Royal Indigo/Jade Green cards are less of an option for a lucrative cryptocurrency card.
And while the higher card tiers don't have a monthly limit to the number of rewards they can earn, the staking requirement of $40,000 to $400,000 USD in CRO doesn't seem feasible for prospective cardholders. Needing to spend $400,000 USD to qualify for the Obsidian card tier to earn 2% or 5% cash back in CRO just isn't a financially sound decision.
According to Coin Market Cap, the price of CRO dropped from .35 cents on Sunday to .26 cents on Tuesday. It rallied slightly to .30 cents at the time of writing.
Understandably, many cardholders are upset by the news. Many took to Reddit to disparage the company, with many CRO holders purportedly planning to unstake their coins and sell. Aside from the rewards, the card's perks will not be changed.