Ruby Red MCO Visa Card Review
I received my Ruby Red Crypto.com card in May, and have been using it consistently with the app throughout the summer and absolutely love it. It took about 10 days to get to me after signing up, which I felt was super fast!
There are so many benefits of this card and app that I'm going to share with you in this post, including crypto cash back rewards, easy crypto purchasing, interest on your lent crypto, and even a built in crypto dust converter!
But before I even get into the whole review and the awesome features to earn, I have to say the user interface and experience is extremely straightforward and aesthetically pleasing. I track all my favorite cryptos on the homepage and constantly use this app to check prices. Now, let's talk earning crypto!
1) Why did I buy this card? Short Answer: Crypto Cash Back!
Number one reason I bought this card was for the crypto cash back opportunity. At the time I got my card, I had to stake 50 MCO tokens to receive it, which was around $250 USD. Currently you can get this card for 1000 CRO, which is around $160-$170 USD right now. Lucky you!
I don't mind the difference in price, as new users do receive a sign-on bonus, and a couple weeks ago Crypto.com had everyone swap from MCO to CRO and gave us an extra CRO bonus for doing so.
Even with investing $250 to get the card, I've already made $153.37 in crypto from the cash back rewards, and $50 from the sign on bonus!
Now let me explain this cash back, because I've seen some confusion online about this card.
You don't have to spend your crypto with this card to get cash back, as you can add fiat to it just like a prepaid debit card and use your fiat at the store, and then receive 2% crypto cashback on all those purchases.
In fact, I've never once spent any of my crypto with this card, as I'm a long term HODLer and I stack my sats for the long term :)
That means for every $100 you spend with the Ruby Red card (at the grocery store, on bills, on your day to day purchases), you receive $2 in CRO tokens. As someone who has taken advantage of credit card rewards points over the last couple years, getting crypto back instead of just fiat dollars is a dream come true. This is such an easy way to earn and accumulate crypto!
2) Using the Card
Once you get your card, you'll want to start sending money from your bank to load it up. I actually had to open a new checking account with a new bank as they offered free ACH transfers, while my old bank only offered expensive wire transfers.
Crypto.com gives you the routing and account number for your account, which allows you to link your bank to it. Once you transfer money from your bank, it'll arrive in a few days within your fiat wallet and will be available for spending on the app to buy crypto or to Top Up your card.
When it comes to using your card, you use it just like a regular debit or credit card, which means you can use it anywhere Visa is accepted in person or online. The card has a really nice weight to it as it's fully metal, and is definitely a fun experience when you hand it across the register and you can tell some people are like “wth is this?” haha :)
3) Crypto Lending
So Crypto.com was my first introduction to CeFi, as I decided to drop some BTC and ETH into their Earn part of the app to gain interest on my crypto. Each crypto has a minimum limit to deposit, somewhere around $250 I believe, and you can either choose a flexible term with no lock up, a 1 Month Term, or a 3 Month Term.
Interest rates vary but usually start around 1-2.5% for flexible assets and up to 4.5% for 3 month terms on many digital assets and even 8% on stablecoins such as USDC.
Currently I've got some BTC, ETH, and LINK in 3 month terms, which all pay 4-4.5% interest.
Interest is added to my wallet once a week, (which looks to usually be Sunday evenings across the board now). I will say the one con I have is that interest doesn't compound daily, such as how Nexo works. Instead, you'll have your main crypto locked up gaining interest, while that interest earned lands back into your wallet.
You can either just keep it here and let it build over time (enough to do something meaningful like send it or trade it), or you can use the built in dust converter to convert that small amount of crypto to CRO if you need to consolidate (and then of course trade CRO for your crypto of choice).
4) Dust Converter
Man oh man do I love this. This is so great for those small little bits of crypto that are sitting in my account. Sometimes I choose to let them stack, but you know how it is, sometimes you have some crypto dust sitting over after a trade or a transfer or interest earned, and similar to how Binance lets you convert super small amounts of crypto to BNB, Crypto.com let's you convert it to CRO. This is great to keep things clean and to give some flexibility to those interest earnings.
5) Price Tracking on the Home Screen
This app is THE place I go to check crypto places from day to day, (or from hour to hour lol).
The blue background with white text and the background chart is so pleasing to my eyes, and the app lets you select your favorite coins to appear on the homepage. I routinely just pop into my app to check prices, so when a coin dips I can easily buy it right there within the app.
6) Easy and Fast Withdrawals
Withdrawing from the app is easy and painless. I've got my 2FA set up so whenever I want to make a deposit, I authenticate with 2FA, if it's a new withdrawal address I confirm it by email, and boom we're off. No extra wait time on their end, just normal network timing. This has been great when say I want to buy some crypto on the app but then send it to Binance or wherever to trade for a more rare coin.7) No Credit Card Fees
This is a huge bonus! Now if I buy crypto on this app, crypto.com won't charge me any fees for doing so, BUT my bank will because it's an international transaction.
The way to avoid this though, is by transferring money to the card like we mentioned earlier. When purchasing from your own fiat wallet balance, your other bank can't charge you an international transaction fee, so for that reason I always send money directly to my card before purchasing any crypto.
8) Free Spotify!
Well not really. You still have to pay for Spotify, but you will get a credit in CRO for the total amount of the charge :) So for me Spotify costs $10.69 a month, so when the charge comes through I'll receive $10.69 in CRO tokens!So that about sums up my experience with this card and with this app so far. I love it and it is by far my favorite crypto app and is how I purchase crypto 95% of the time.
If you have any additional questions please leave them in the comments and I'll answer them!