Plutus Visa Card Review

What is the Plutus Visa Card?

The Plutus Visa card is closely attached to the platform’s PLU token. This proprietary token is integral to how the system operates. While the Bitcoin debit card operates like a traditional debit card that you’d get from your bank, the plumbing of the system is not a legacy financial institution. Plutus Visa cardholders are able to hold ETH and PLU tokens in a non-custodial wallet and then convert those tokens to fiat currency via an exchange whenever they want to be able to use their card. There are a number of cashback rewards and benefits available to users, which are paid out via in PLU tokens.

What are the Benefits of the Plutus Visa Card?

There are four key benefits involved with the Plutus Via card: a non-custodial wallet, cashback rewards, Plutus Perks, and potentially-zero fees on exchanges between cryptocurrency and the cryptocurrency debit card.

The fact that the Plutus Visa card comes with a non-custodial Ethereum wallet will be overlooked by some cryptocurrency users, but the reality is this feature is critical to maintaining decentralization. If you don’t own your private keys, then the cryptocurrency attached to those private keys is actually owned by a trusted third party. Getting rid of these trusted third parties is the whole reason Bitcoin was invented in the first place.

A flashier benefit to using the Plutus Visa card is the 3% cashback rewards on all purchases. However, there are some drawbacks to this particular perk. For one, these cashback rewards are only available to Plutus Visa cardholders who are willing to pay a monthly fee for a pro or premium plan. Of course, if you use the card a lot, you will more than make your money back via the cashback rewards pretty easily. That said, another issue with these rewards is that they are paid out in PLU tokens. Of course, you can always trade these PLU tokens for a more reputable cryptocurrency, such as bitcoin, rather easily.

On top of the base 3% cashback rewards, the Plutus crypto debit card also has an additional benefits program known as Plutus Perks. This program offers additional cashback rewards at specific retailers, but the catch is that users must be willing to stake PLU tokens in order to gain access to these additional benefits. The requirement to hold PLU may be deemed too risky for some users. It should also be noted that access to Plutus Perks is only available to pro or premium cardholders.

One last benefit of the Plutus Ethereum debit card is that there are no fees associated with moving funds from your non-custodial Plutus wallet to your Plutus Visa card, as long as you have a pro or premium account. The exchange fee for those with a starter plan is 1.75%.

Potential Plutus Visa Card Dealbreakers

While the Plutus Visa card’s relatively high cashback rewards and perks may appear attractive at first, there are still some drawbacks to consider with this card. For example, those cashback rewards are all denominated in PLU. Additionally, the extra Plutus Perks program requires users to not just receive PLU tokens but also hold them. An additional membership fee is also required to access these programs. Some users may prefer to use a simpler setup, even if it means the cashback rewards are a bit lower.

Another dealbreaker for some potential Plutus Visa cardholders is that there is no native support for Bitcoin. In fact, ETH and PLU are the only tokens supported by the platform at this time. Avoiding the world’s largest and most popular cryptocurrency is quite an oversight; however, it’s possible that BTC will eventually be added to the platform via one of the many available bitcoin-backed ERC-20 tokens that have been gaining steam in 2020.

The Plutus crypto credit card also has high fees in some situations. For example, there is a 1.75% fee on moving ETH onto the card if the user is not on the pro or premium plan. Perhaps more troubling, the ATM fees involved with the Plutus Visa card are a bit high compared with some of the other options on the market. On top of the base €1.35 fee for domestic withdrawals, there is also a 1% charge on the transaction’s total value. So, if you’re withdrawing €300, you’re looking at an additional €3 charge.

A final downside of the Plutus Visa card is that it is currently only available in Europe.

Is the Plutus Visa Card Right for Me?

When all of the different features, benefits, and downsides of the Plutus Visa card are considered, it must be said that this crypto debit card is a bit of a niche offering. The fact that it is only available in Europe combined with the lack of support for Bitcoin means the addressable market for this card is currently somewhat limited. That said, if you’re mainly interested in Ethereum and live in Europe, then you may find the rewards associated with this card to be compelling, especially since the base 3% cashback rewards are available without a requirement to stake PLU. Some other cards offer better overall rewards packages, but the Plutus Visa card could be an attractive option for Ethereum-focused cryptocurrency users living in Europe who do not want to feel pushed into staking a proprietary token. Additionally, the fact that the Plutus mobile wallet is non-custodial is a factor that cannot be overlooked.