Avici Card:
sophisticated self-custody, zero cashback, by design.
We tore apart Avici's collateral-secured Visa across seven weighted categories; from a genuinely granular, programmable security model to a rewards program that doesn't exist at all, on purpose; and landed on a score the marketing page won't show you.
Our take, up front: Avici is the first card in this series to make an explicit, deliberate choice that most competitors treat as an embarrassment to obscure: it offers zero cashback, zero rewards, zero points, full stop. Independent reviewers have run the numbers, on $1,000 a month in spend, ether.fi would earn you roughly $360 a year, KAST up to $720; Avici earns you $0. What you get instead is a genuinely sophisticated self-custody model, programmable spending limits, address whitelisting, and session keys, layered on top of a collateral-secured Visa credit line with some of the cleanest, most predictable fees in this entire series. Whether that trade is worth it depends entirely on whether you're optimizing for yield or for control. We weighted all of it below.
You deposit USDC into a self-custodial escrow smart contract you control; Avici fronts your purchase and the locked collateral backs the position in real time, with funds only leaving the contract when you actually spend. Security goes further than most self-custody cards in this series: rather than a single private key controlling everything, Avici uses programmable policies, daily spending limits, withdrawal restrictions, timed approvals, address whitelisting, and temporary session keys for everyday transactions.
Pros
- Genuinely self-custodial; collateral only leaves the smart contract at the moment of spend
- Programmable security policies (spending limits, whitelisting, session keys) go beyond basic self-custody
- No disclosed security incidents found since launch in late 2024
Cons
- Gas is sponsored through Avici's own relayer, a minor centralization point if that relayer were ever disrupted
- Multi-chain support across roughly 12 chains modestly increases the smart-contract surface area
- Still a relatively young product (under two years old) without a long independent track record
There is no cashback, no rewards, no points program of any kind, on any tier. This is explicit and confirmed across every independent source we checked, not an oversight or something buried in fine print. Avici's own positioning frames this as a deliberate trade-off: sovereignty and fee predictability instead of yield.
Pros
- Completely transparent about offering nothing; there's no fine print to decode
- No token-holding requirement, tier-chasing, or spend threshold to manage, because there's no reward layer to manage at all
Cons
- Zero cashback, zero rewards, zero points, confirmed across every tier
- Independent reviewers calculate a real, quantified opportunity cost against competitors at typical spending levels
- No mitigating yield elsewhere on the card to offset the absence of spend rewards
This is genuinely one of the cleanest, most predictable fee structures in the whole series. USD/USDC transactions cost $0, FX is 0%, and there's no top-up, transaction, or withdrawal fee. Card costs are modest and mostly one-time rather than recurring: virtual Platinum is free for a first card, then $10 one-time; Signature runs $30 in year one and $20/year after. The only notable cost is a 2.49% fee for converting non-USDC crypto, clearly disclosed rather than buried. Because you can only spend what you've deposited, there's no debt, no interest, and no APR risk at all.
Pros
- No debt or interest risk at all; you can only spend collateral you've already deposited
- $0 fees on USD/USDC transactions and 0% FX
- Card tier costs are modest, mostly one-time, and clearly published
Cons
- 2.49% fee applies to converting any non-USDC crypto before it counts as spendable collateral
- No Gold tier currently available, and the announced Infinite tier isn't live yet
Avici lists roughly 49 countries as of July 2026, a moderate footprint, but with an unusual exclusion pattern: the EU, UK, and Canada are explicitly not supported, three of the most significant, generally crypto-card-friendly markets in the world. That's the reverse of the pattern seen elsewhere in this series, where the US is typically the excluded market rather than Western Europe or Canada. No credit check is required, since spending is fully collateralized by your own deposited USDC.
Pros
- No credit check required; eligibility is based on collateral, not creditworthiness
- Roughly 49 countries supported as of mid-2026, a reasonable footprint outside the excluded regions
Cons
- EU, UK, and Canada are explicitly excluded, an unusual gap covering major, typically crypto-friendly markets
- Country counts vary by source depending on which card variant is being counted
Funding is genuinely flexible: deposit USDC directly from Solana, Polygon, Arbitrum, or other EVM L2s, or top up with any token and let Relay's DEX aggregation auto-swap it to USDC. Top-ups take 2 to 7 minutes with a $1 minimum. Beyond the card, Avici also offers USD and EUR virtual bank accounts, positioning itself as a broader neobank rather than a single-product card. The clearest gap: locked USDC collateral earns 0% the entire time it backs your spending limit, confirmed by independent testing.
Pros
- Genuine multi-chain deposit support (Solana, Polygon, Arbitrum, and other EVM L2s)
- Automatic any-token-to-USDC conversion via DEX aggregation removes manual conversion steps
- Broader neobank ambitions (USD/EUR virtual accounts) beyond just the card itself
Cons
- Locked USDC collateral earns 0% yield the entire time it's backing your spending limit, a confirmed, real opportunity cost
- Off-ramp functionality (converting back to fiat) is still in closed beta
- No DeFi yield features live yet, though described as planned
Multiple independent reviewers who actually tested the product describe fast KYC, instant virtual card issuance, and Apple Pay integration, with the overall feel compared favorably to consumer neobank apps like Revolut or N26, notable since everything behind the interface routes back to a self-custodial smart wallet. Gas is sponsored through Avici's relayer, so most users never notice network fees during everyday use. We found no independently cited app-store rating for the product specifically.
Pros
- Consistently positive hands-on feedback across multiple independent testers
- Fast KYC and instant virtual card issuance
- Gas sponsorship means users rarely encounter network fees directly
Cons
- No independently cited app-store rating found for the product
- Off-ramp functionality still being in closed beta limits the full neobank experience
Avici launched in late 2024, giving it roughly 18 to 20 months of operating history by this review, more established than several other cards in this series but still relatively young. No disclosed security incidents or major complaints turned up in our research. One detailed independent review is candid about the card's real limitation: "structurally honest" and technically credible, but with "market weight and real-world product momentum" still thinner than more established competitors. No Trustpilot page or large-sample user-review data was found.
Pros
- No disclosed security incidents or major scandals since launch
- Independent reviewers who tested the product describe it as "structurally honest"
- Nearly two years of operating history, more mature than several newer cards in this series
Cons
- At least one detailed reviewer explicitly flags thinner real-world market traction than larger competitors
- No Trustpilot page or large-sample independent user-review data found
- Off-ramp functionality still in closed beta suggests the broader product is still maturing
Test it free before committing to a paid tier.
Virtual Platinum's first card is free for new users, so you can try the self-custody model firsthand before paying anything. If you move to Signature ($30 year one) or need a physical card, a referral code can knock 10% off the tier fee.
The most honest trade-off in this series: control, priced in forgone yield.
Avici doesn't pretend to be something it isn't. The security model is genuinely sophisticated, the fees are genuinely predictable, and the reward program is genuinely nonexistent, all stated plainly rather than buried. That's a coherent, defensible product for someone who's decided sovereignty matters more than a percent or two of cashback. It's a real, quantified cost for everyone else: independent reviewers calculate hundreds of dollars a year in forgone rewards at typical spending levels, with no yield on locked collateral to offset it. The lowest score in this series so far isn't a verdict on the engineering, which is genuinely strong, it's a reflection of how heavily we weight rewards across every card we review, and this is the one place that weight lands hardest.
The scorecard above is deliberately general. Whether the Avici Card is right for you depends heavily on which of these you already are.
The self-custody purist who never wants a custodian holding funds
You'd rather earn nothing than trust an exchange or bank with your collateral. Avici's escrow model, combined with programmable security policies, is built exactly for this priority.
The USDC holder who wants predictable, low fees
You already hold USDC and want $0 transaction fees, 0% FX, and no interest-rate risk. The absence of rewards matters less if predictability and simplicity are what you're actually optimizing for.
The multi-chain holder who wants flexible funding
If your assets are spread across Solana, Polygon, or Arbitrum, Avici's auto-swap funding removes the manual conversion steps other cards require.
Anyone in the EU, UK, or Canada, or who values rewards
The card explicitly excludes three major Western markets, and offers literally nothing back on your spending. If cashback factors into your decision at all, this isn't the card to start with.
The scorecard covers the headline judgment calls. These four tables cover the specifics we didn't want to bury in prose; the Platinum vs. Signature tiers, the real quantified cost of zero rewards, the fee schedule, and how this card compares against every other card we've reviewed in this series.
Platinum vs. Signature
| Platinum | Signature | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free first card, then $10 one-time | $30 year one, $20/year after |
| Format | Virtual | Virtual, with physical option |
| Perks | Purchase, warranty, and price protection | Visa Signature benefits: travel insurance, lounge access, airport transportation |
| Best for | Virtual-only users who never touch ATMs | Anyone using ATMs even occasionally, or who wants travel perks |
A Gold tier doesn't currently exist, and the announced Infinite tier is not yet available. If you use ATMs even once a month, independent testing suggests Signature pays for itself through its included benefits.
The real cost of zero rewards
| Card | Annual reward value on $1,000/month spend |
|---|---|
| KAST | Up to $720/year |
| ether.fi Cash | ~$360/year |
| MetaMask Card | ~$120/year |
| Avici Card | $0/year |
These figures come from independent third-party calculations, not our own estimate, and illustrate the real, quantified trade-off Avici asks you to accept in exchange for its security model and fee predictability.
Fee schedule
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| USD/USDC transactions | $0 |
| Foreign transaction fee | 0% |
| Non-USDC crypto conversion | 2.49% |
| Top-up, transaction, or withdrawal fee | None |
| Interest / APR | None; fully collateral-secured, no debt possible |
This is one of the most predictable fee structures in this series precisely because there's no revolving credit or variable APR involved at all; you can only spend what you've already deposited.
How it compares to the other cards we've reviewed
| Card | Reward rate | Custody model | Interest-rate risk | Region |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avici Card | 0%, by design | Self-custodial escrow smart contract | None; fully collateral-secured | ~49 countries, excl. EU/UK/Canada |
| Avalanche Card | Undisclosed rate | Self-custodial C-Chain smart contracts | None; 0% APR | 173 countries, 34 US states |
| ether.fi Cash | Up to 3% wETH | Non-custodial Safe vault | Liquidation risk only | ~20 US states, UK, EEA, HK, UAE |
| Gnosis Pay | 1%-5% GNO | On-chain verifiable Safe wallet | None; debit-style | EEA, UK, Argentina, Brazil |
| Gemini Credit Card | 1%-4%, 50+ assets | Custodial exchange wallet | Real APR (18.49%-34.49%) | US only |
Avici and Avalanche Card are the two most similar products in this series structurally, both self-custodial, collateral-secured, zero-APR credit lines. The real difference is transparency: Avalanche's rewards are undisclosed, while Avici's are confirmed to simply not exist.
We don't just want to hand you our number; we want to show you how it sits next to what other review desks and comparison sites have published. Unlike DeCard Luminaries, there's a real, if still fairly small, body of independent coverage for this card. No source we found publishes a clean numeric star rating, so every entry below is our conversion of that outlet's published verdict, clearly flagged as an estimate.
Our score lands meaningfully below the aggregated industry average; most outlets frame the absence of rewards as a stated trade-off within an otherwise positive "sovereignty" narrative, rather than a hard deduction. We weight Rewards as its own category worth 18% of the total score on every card we review, and this is the one place that weighting has the most visible effect.
| Source | Score | Type |
|---|
Scores compiled by our editorial team from publicly available reviews as of August 2026. "Editorial estimate" means the outlet didn't publish a single numeric score, so we converted their published verdict and sentiment into a comparable 100-point figure. Verify current figures directly with each source before citing them elsewhere.
Yes, confirmed across every independent source we checked and every live tier (Platinum and Signature). There's no cashback, no points, no crypto rewards program of any kind. Avici frames this as a deliberate trade-off for sovereignty and fee predictability, not an oversight.
It's a secured credit card, a genuinely different model from a simple debit card. You deposit USDC into a self-custodial escrow smart contract, and Avici issues equivalent USD credit on your Visa card, backed in real time by your locked collateral. You can't spend more than you've deposited, so there's no debt or interest risk despite the "credit" structure.
No. Independent testing confirms that USDC locked as collateral earns 0% the entire time it's backing your spending limit. Combined with the lack of cashback, this means your spending power generates no return at all while you use it.
The specific reasoning isn't detailed in the sources we reviewed, but exclusions of this kind are typically regulatory in nature. This is a real, unusual gap since these are generally among the more crypto-card-friendly markets covered by other cards in this series.
Since USDC is a dollar-pegged stablecoin, this is a much smaller concern than with volatile collateral. Independent sources describe the collateral position updating in real time and note that if the underlying collateral's value rises, the user benefits; USDC's peg means this dynamic mostly matters for non-stablecoin deposits before conversion.
Off-ramp functionality, converting your balance back to fiat or withdrawing it, is still in closed beta as of this review. This is a real, current functional gap worth confirming directly before relying on the card as a full two-way banking solution.
Platinum is free for a first virtual card, then $10 one-time, with basic purchase and warranty protections. Signature costs $30 in year one and $20/year after, but adds Visa Signature benefits like travel insurance, lounge access, and airport transportation, genuinely worthwhile if you use ATMs even occasionally.
Instead of one private key controlling everything, Avici lets you set daily spending limits, restrict withdrawals, require timed approvals, whitelist addresses, and issue temporary session keys for everyday transactions. This limits the damage if a single key or session is ever compromised, a more sophisticated model than basic self-custody.
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