RedotPay vs KAST: which global card costs less?

RedotPay vs KAST is the comparison most stablecoin holders run sooner or later. Both cards let you spend USDT or USDC at ordinary card terminals in well over a hundred countries. Both work with Apple Pay and Google Pay, and both need full identity checks. Yet their fee tables point in different directions. One is cheaper to swipe and the other is cheaper at the ATM, so the right pick depends on how you use money day to day.

Quick verdict

For most people who mainly pay by card, KAST is the better value. The Standard card costs nothing, stablecoin top-ups are free and the FX fee starts lower. You also get 1.5% cashback without paying for a tier. RedotPay charges for the card itself and adds a 1% conversion fee on top of a 1.2% FX fee.

RedotPay pulls ahead if you rely on ATMs. Its 2% fee has no fixed part, so small and medium withdrawals cost less than on KAST. It also serves some countries KAST excludes, India most notably. For each card on its own, read our RedotPay review and our KAST review.

How both cards work

Both are custodial spend cards. You send stablecoins or other supported crypto into your account with the provider, and the card spends that balance at Visa or card-network merchants. Merchants are paid in local currency, so they never see crypto. The conversion happens inside the provider, and that is where the fees sit.

KAST supports USDT, USDC and more than 25 other assets across 10 or more chains. RedotPay supports USDT, USDC, BTC and ETH. In practice, most people fund both cards with stablecoins. That keeps the balance steady in dollar terms and, in many countries, keeps the tax picture simple. Our stablecoin cards guide explains why that matters, and our supported coins page lists which networks to use.

Deposits are where beginners slip up most. Each app shows a deposit address for a specific coin on a specific chain. Send USDT on the chain the app names, not the one your exchange picks by default, and try a small amount first. A transfer on the wrong chain can take weeks to recover, if it can be recovered at all. Check the minimum deposit and the network fee in the app before you send.

Both providers support Apple Pay and Google Pay. That matters for KAST in particular, because the free Standard card is the one most people start with. With a phone wallet you can start paying in shops without waiting for plastic, and decide later whether a physical card is worth having.

RedotPay vs KAST fees and FX

RedotPay publishes its fees in its help center. A virtual card costs $10 and a physical card costs $100. Converting crypto costs 1%, and spending in a currency other than the card currency costs 1.2%. Some merchant categories carry an extra 1.5% fee, with a $0.50 minimum and three waivers a month.

KAST's Standard card is free. Stablecoin top-ups cost 0%. The FX fee ranges from 0.5% to 1.75%, depending on where you live, where the merchant is and which program your card sits on. A secondary source also lists a $2 ACH fee, a $15 Fedwire fee, $0.50 for a declined transaction and an inactivity fee of $1 a month after 12 months idle. We could not confirm those smaller fees on KAST's own pages.

Put the first three rows together for a first year of use. Order a RedotPay virtual card, convert $2,000 of crypto and spend it all abroad, and you pay $10 for the card, $20 in conversion and $24 in FX: $54. On KAST Standard the same pattern costs nothing for the card or conversion, and $10 to $35 in FX. That is the core of KAST's price advantage. For a wider view, try our card fees calculator.

ATM cash: RedotPay's clear win

RedotPay charges 2% on ATM withdrawals up to $10,000 a month, then 3%. RedotPay Pro annual members get up to $1,000 a month in ATM fee waivers. There is no fixed fee per withdrawal, which helps with smaller amounts.

KAST charges $3 plus 2% per withdrawal, plus FX if the cash is not in dollars. Each withdrawal is capped at $250, with a maximum of three in 24 hours, so $750 a day. A $100 withdrawal costs $5 on KAST, which is 5%. The same withdrawal costs $2 on RedotPay. The local ATM operator may also add its own fee on either card. Our crypto card ATM guide covers how to spot those surcharges before you confirm.

If cash matters to you, the per-withdrawal cap is also a practical limit. Paying rent or a deposit in cash from a KAST card takes several days of withdrawals. RedotPay does not publish a daily ATM cap on the pages we checked.

Cashback and tiers

KAST has three tiers. Standard is free, runs on Visa Platinum and pays 1.5% cashback. Premium costs $1,000 a year, moves to Visa Infinite and pays 2%. Private costs $10,000 a year, also on Visa Infinite, and pays 3%. The step from Standard to Premium only pays for itself if you spend a lot: the extra 0.5% needs $200,000 of yearly spending to cover the $1,000 fee.

RedotPay does not offer standard cashback. Its optional Pro membership adds ATM fee waivers, as covered above. If rewards are a priority, our cashback cards page compares rates once caps and fees are counted.

Country coverage

KAST says it covers more than 170 countries. Comparison sites list India, Bulgaria and Andorra among its restricted countries. KAST is reported to be available in the US, but we could not confirm that on its official site. It also offers USD and EUR accounts with ACH and SEPA.

RedotPay says it has more than 9 million users in over 100 countries. Its unsupported list, updated 28 August 2026, includes the United States, mainland China, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Croatia, Slovenia and several Balkan countries. India is not on that list, so onboarding is possible, but we are not aware of RedotPay being registered with India's Financial Intelligence Unit. Indian users should read our India guide before signing up. Gulf residents can check our UAE page, where RedotPay is available.

Issuer, custody and regulation

This is where both cards are weaker than bank-issued products. Neither names its card issuer on the pages we checked. KAST says it works with "licensed partners" and names Fireblocks and BitGo as custody partners. RedotPay does not state its card network on its landing pages. It describes itself as "a fintech service provider and not a bank", and lists a registration with Argentina's securities regulator (CNV, PSAV no. 144).

Why does this matter? In 2026 several crypto card programs stopped working because a partner left. Cypher canceled all its cards on 8 August 2026, and the Solflare card was paused in July 2026 after its issuer wound down. With a custodial card, your balance is a claim on the provider until you spend or withdraw it. Our crypto card news page tracks these closures, and our safety guide explains how to limit the damage.

Which one to choose

Choose KAST if you pay by card most of the time, want a free card with cashback, or live in the US (once you confirm eligibility). It is also the better travel card for most people, because the low end of its FX range beats RedotPay, and stablecoin top-ups cost nothing. Our travel cards page has more options.

Choose RedotPay if you withdraw cash regularly, live in a country KAST does not serve, or already use RedotPay for transfers. Accept that you pay for the card up front and for conversion on every top-up.

Whichever you pick, keep the balance modest and check the fee page again before a big trip. Both providers change terms without much warning. If you want a similar head-to-head for exchange cards, see our Binance Card vs Bybit Card comparison.

Frequently asked questions

Sources and official pages

1. RedotPay — card overview
2. RedotPay Help — fees for getting a card
3. RedotPay Help — ATM withdrawals and fees
4. RedotPay Help — unsupported countries and regions
5. KAST — official site and tiers
6. KAST Help — ATM withdrawals
7. KAST Help — foreign transaction fees

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