Crypto Cashback Guide
Disclaimer: I am not a certified account, lawyer or financial advisor. Everything I write is for educational purposes. Before conducting any of the information here, be sure to consult an expert on the topics here before executing them.
Links to Apps:
The more money you put into crypto, the wealthier you become. That is the belief of everyone in cryptocurrency. That shouldn't be a surprise. When you consider the explosive growth of bitcoin over the last ten years, this shouldn't be a shocker. Some people you find themselves asking, "Should I buy Toliet paper or buy more cryptocurrency?" Quiet the dilemma when you know the opportunity costs, good hygiene or becoming wealthy? Lucky enough, we can actually become wealthy with the knowledge of three quotes:
- "A penny saved is a penny earned."-Benjamin Franklin
- "Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the World."-Albert Einstein
- "Stack those sats!"-Every degenerate cryptocurrency investor
Sounds pretty crazy when you think about it, but it isn't. In some ways, this can be a fantastic way to improve your overall financial well being conducting everyday activities you probably already do. In the worst case situation, you just need to make minor tweaks to your consumption behavior.
Should I use a Debit Card or Credit Card?
There are clear trade offs between using a debit card and a credit card. Depending on your risks tolerance, you need to look at how you want to use this system. The reality is you need to make choices based on your consumption behavior.
When using a debit card, you are using the actual cash on your account. The two main arguments against using a debit card is security and dry powder. If you end up using a debit card and your account information is compromised, you'll need to report it to the police if someone commits fraudulent charges on your account. Every time your spend your cash, you aren't using that money to allocate money into cryptocurrency.
When using a Credit Card, you are accumulating debt to be paid back later. This isn't necessarily a bad thing when you consider you will have more money to buy cryptocurrencies in the present. In addition, you can us the ROI on your cryptocurrency gains to payoff any debt you have accumulated. The upside is the case of fraudulent charges. If should there be a fraudulent charge against your account, you can simply call your bank to report it. The only downside is you are accumulating debt with a high interest attached to it.
Later in this post, I provide information on different credit cards and debit cards with rewards with different consumer strategies.
The Three Major Crypto Cashback Platforms
There are three major crypto cashback platforms available to use: Fold, Lolli, StormX. Each one has their trade offs, advantages, and disadvantages. The best idea would be to use all three platforms. The simple fact is having more tools available to you will increase the maximum value for your cashback.
The No Brainer Choice
Using
Fold should be a no brainer for one reason only, free Bitcoin. Just by using my referral link, you get free 2,500 satoshis, little fractions of Bitcoin. An interesting feature about the app is it's spin wheel feature. You can receive free bitcoin for simply spinning the wheel every single day. If you do it 7 days straight without missing a spin, you get 250 satoshis at the end of the cycle. On the face value, it may not seem like much, but consider when Bitcoin first became tradable, it was worth pennies. The minimum requirement to withdraw your BTC is 50,000 satoshis. After that, you withdraw it via the lightning network.
However, there are a few drawbacks to to the fold app. First and formost, you aren't shopping at retailers but buying Giftcards to at shop at retailers. That means you need to buy a fixed amount at a time. Likewise, the selection of giftcards is small. As of writing this, they only have giftcards for 46 retailers where as
StormX and
Lolli have over 1,000 retailers available. Another problem that can occur is the app running out of giftcards. It is actually a very realistic problem that can occur. So the vendor you may like might not have any giftcards available.
There are some striking advantages the fold app has on the platforms. If you like amazon, this is the only way to get crypto cashback rewards for shopping with amazon. Likewise, sometimes you'll find giftcards for retailers that are available on both
StormX and
Lolli. This allows you to double dip in rewards. Take the retailer Gap for example. If you buy a Gap giftcard from
Fold, you get 7% bitcoin back. If you use Lolli to shop at the Gap, you get 3% Bitcoin back. That is a total of 10% back on your money.
The Big Fish
The one thing
Lolli has going for it that the other platforms don't have is mass. They simply have access to more retailers. In fact,
Lolli is the only platform of date that allows you to get cashback for buying from grocery stores. This is something neither
StormX or
Fold can offer. This alone should be a reason to shop with
Lolli every week.
If you are new to cryptocurrency,
Lolli is a good place to actually start. You do not need a KYC account to start up. There is no additional costs on the user. Likewise, if you aren't interested in getting more bitcoin, you can always cashout in terms of dollars right into your bank account. All you need is a minimum of $15 of accumulated awards to cash out.
The only thing I do not like about Lolli is the lack of an Android App. At the moment they have an apple app. If you don't have one, you'll have to opt into using their website or their chrome extension.
If you want to check out more information and get more updates about Lolli, check their blog a
https://blog.lolli.com/.
For The Crypto Investor
StormX is going to give the best benefits to those who are already deeply invested in crypto. Where as Lolli is designed for the no coiner to slowly dip their feet into crypto and slowly become educated about cryptocurrencies over time,
StormX is better equipped for those already involved in Crypto. As a service
StormX can do multiple things for you, a cryptocash back rewards system and an indirect anchor to the
Defi protocols in crypto.
Compared to Lolli, StormX has a smaller selection of retailers. However, they have some overlap with Lolli and have some retailers that Lolli doesn't have. Likewise, in the following paragraph, I'll explain why it is better to shop with StormX whenever you can.
StormX also has another useful feature that Lolli doesn't have, a utility token. It has three benefits; A way to increase crypto cashback rewards, a passive income tool, and a membership tier ranking. To make use of the token, you need to stake it one of three wallets, Metamask, Trust or Coinbase Wallet. You only have to stake it once and all of your stakes in StormX are liquid stakes. So you can always redeem the value of your STMX token. By staking your STMX token, you set up a membership tier in the system. The greater the amount STMX tokens you stake, the higher your membership is.
The Current tier membership is as follows as of writing this:
- Purple: Less than 3,000 STMX, No Multiplier
- Bronze: At Least 3,000 STMX, 1.25x Multiplier
- Silver: At Least 31,000 STMX, 1.5x Multiplier
- Gold: At least 310,000 STMX, 2x Multiplier, Reward Wait Reduction 25%
- Platinum: At Least 3,100,000 STMX, 2.5x Multiplier, Reward Wait Reduction 50%
- Diamond: At Least 6,200,000 STMX, 3.5x Multiplier, Reward Wait Reduction 75%
Anyone who is familiar with the citadel meme about crypto will understand the StormX platform has one baked right into it.
One of the benefits of being a staker is the abilty to make passive income with your STMX Token. As of writing this, you can currently can get 10% APY based on the value of the STMX Tokens you have staked. However, most cryptocurrency staking rewards only allow for in kind pay out. The StormX platform gives you a choice of 5 different cryptocurrencies to earn rewards; STMX, BTC, ETH, DAI, LTC. You need a minimum balance account of $5 to withdraw in STMX and a minimum of $25 for all other cryptocurrencies.
Debit and Credit Cards
As I discussed previously, you can get cashback rewards from crypto using platforms like Lolli, Fold, and StormX. That alone should be food for thought on how you ought to adjust your consumption patterns. However, what if you were to compound more crypto for your expenditures? To entice new users, it isn't unusual for credit card companies to provide cashback on purchases. Did you know you can also get cash back in the form of cryptocurrencies? Given that you already purchase and consume products, you should consider getting card that provides cashback. It has the equivalent effect of using a coupon. Some are currently available at the current moment while others are still pending.
Credit Cards and Debit Cards with Fiat Cashback
Some people do not want to deal with the hassle of that can be associated with figuring out getting cashback in terms of cryptocurrency. That is fine. I'll make a short and sweet guide for those who want just cashback.
Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards Credit Card
There is a reason why I bring this card up first. This credit card gives 3% cashback on online purchases. When you take in regarding the fact that getting crypto cashback rewards for making online purchases, this makes using this card in conjunction with the previously mentioned services a nice compounding deal.
Citi Double Cash Card
Maybe you aren't the type of person to make ALL of your purchases online. Perhaps you're also going to shop in store. That is fine. This card is probably better suited for you. This card gives 2% cashback on all purchases,
Wells Fargo Active Cash Card
Basically an Alternative to the Citi Double Cash Card. It gives 2% cashback on all purchases.
Paypal Cashback Mastercard
Another card offering 2% cashback rewards on all purchases.
On Other Credit Cards
There are other credit cards that give greater cashback rewards, but they are generally more restrictive. The reason I chose the above because they are best suited for cashback for internet purchases.
Cards with Crypto Cashback
Now we are at the heart of this article. This article is going to be about credit and debit cards that give cashback to users. Since this is a blog about cryptocurrency, it is only natural that I elaborate on this area specifically.
One of the apps I mentioned before is the fold app. In addition to getting free bitcoin and getting bitcoin cashback, the also provide a debit card as a service. Each purchase gives an additional opportunity to gain more free bitcoin on your purchases. It does come with a lot of additional fees for thing such as out of network withdrawals, cash withdrawals, and other costs which suggests it best used for frequent users of the cash app.
This is part of another rewards app I discussed about earlier. As of writing this, it currently has not been released yet. However, they have plans to launch the card in Q1 2022. As far as rewards are concerned, they are giving some really high cashback on their debit card. Some of it is as high as 15% depending on where you shop. However, they give a minimum 2% cashback on all purchases. That is unusually high for most cards and is certainly worth paying attention to. The benefits gained depend on the amount of of STMX tokens you stake. If you shop at Amazon, you can get a cashback rate as high as 8%. Even Amazon's own credit card reward for shopping with amazon gives a 5% cashback rate.
This card isn't as appetizing as the previous cards mentioned. You may notice the advertisement, it gives up to 4% cashback in crypto. According to this website here, crowding platforms, they only give 4% cashback in terms of stellar lumens and the graph. All the other rewards give 1% which include BTC, ETH, DOGE, and DAI. Given that it is reasonably accessible, it isn't a bad thing, especially considering that most debit cards do not give cashback at all.
As of writing this, they have yet to release this card yet. The rewards you receive are pretty generic compared to other credit cards; 3% on dining, 2% on groceries and 1% on everything else. Given that this is a credit card and gives rewards back in any cryptocurrency available on the gemini exchange, this makes the rewards extremely flexible.
There are other cards available, however, not all of them are available in New York. This is after all a blog focused on helping New Yorkers do research about crypto in New York. However, for those outside of New York, I recommend reading this article from The College Investor. You can expect as more adoption of crypto arises, you should also expect more cashback reward opportunities.
