Crypto prepaid card Europe guide: licensed cards under MiCA

Shopping for a crypto prepaid card in Europe used to mean comparing apps with very different levels of oversight. That era is over. Since 1 July 2026, the last national transition period under MiCA has expired. Any firm that exchanges or holds crypto for retail customers in the EU must now hold a MiCA authorisation. The good news is that one licence covers the whole bloc. The less good news is that providers still choose which countries they serve, so "available in Europe" rarely means everywhere.

This page looks at the rules that apply in every member state. It covers how the licences fit together, which cards reach which countries, what happened when grandfathering ended, and where the €150 anonymity line sits. Tax is the big exception: it stays national. For one country in depth, see our Germany guide, which covers BaFin and §23 EStG.

Two licences behind every European crypto card

A crypto card in the EU is almost always a joint product. The crypto company holds your coins and sells them when you pay. That is a crypto-asset service under MiCA, and the firm doing it is a crypto-asset service provider, or CASP. A separate firm issues the card and runs the euro side. That is an e-money institution (EMI) or a bank, working under the E-Money Directive (EMD2, 2009/110/EC) and the Payment Services Directive (PSD2, 2015/2366). PSD2 is also why your card asks for strong customer authentication online.

This split matters for you in two ways. First, a healthy crypto company cannot keep a card alive if its issuer leaves. That is exactly how the CEX.IO card ended on 3 February 2026, when the Polish regulator withdrew its partner's authorisation. Second, your protections differ by layer. The euro balance falls under e-money and payment rules, while the coins fall under MiCA's custody rules. Ask which layer holds your money before you load a large amount.

Only one firm in our data, Bleap SIA in Latvia, describes itself as a MiCA CASP running its own self-custody card. In most other cases the brand you see in the app is not the company on your card's fine print. We always list both in our reviews, because that is the first thing to check when a card stops working.

Crypto cards available across the EEA

These six cards are offered in most EU countries on the provider's own terms. They differ less in where they work and more in how they hold your money. Crypto.com, Bybit, OKX and Nexo are custodial: your coins sit on the platform. Bleap and MetaMask are self-custody cards that spend from your own wallet.

The Crypto.com card stands out as the only true prepaid card in this group: crypto is converted to euros when you load it, not when you pay. The OKX Card is the newest. It launched on 28 January 2026, spends only USDC and USDG, and charges a 0.1% spread. Read our OKX Card review for the cashback caps. The Bybit Card has no annual fee and 1% base cashback with no monthly cap in the EEA, though Bybit EU does not publish its EEA FX rate clearly. SpectroCoin, issued by Pervesk in Lithuania, is a plain alternative with a €1 monthly fee.

Country gaps inside the EEA

MiCA gives providers a passport, but not a duty to use it everywhere. The differences are small on paper and annoying in practice. Crypto.com's list is the widest we found. It covers every EU state plus Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and the UK. OKX covers the EU and Norway but not Iceland or Liechtenstein. Bybit EU's card excludes Malta. The Bitpanda Card is limited to euro-area residents, so a resident of Poland, Sweden or Hungary cannot get it.

Outside the MiCA world, offshore stablecoin cards add their own gaps. RedotPay's help centre, updated in August 2026, lists Croatia and Slovenia as unsupported, along with several Balkan countries outside the EU. As far as we know RedotPay is not a MiCA CASP, so EU residents who use it are relying on an offshore provider. KAST's restricted list on comparison sites includes Bulgaria; its EU regulatory basis is unclear. Our RedotPay vs KAST comparison covers both.

The end of grandfathering

MiCA did not switch on overnight. Article 143(3) let crypto firms already operating legally under national law continue until they got a MiCA licence. The limit was 1 July 2026 at the latest, and member states could shorten it. ESMA's list shows how much they differed. Some countries gave six months, others the full eighteen.

Every one of these periods has now expired. A provider that serves EU retail customers today must appear on ESMA's register of authorised CASPs, under its home regulator. If an app you use cannot point to its MiCA authorisation, it should not be serving you from inside the EU. Several platforms responded by limiting EEA accounts rather than closing them. Some EEA visitors now see service notices that restrict deposits or trading.

Official rule: MiCA and its transition deadline. Regulator position: each home regulator authorises CASPs, and ESMA publishes the register and the national periods. Provider rule: each company picks its countries, tokens and fees. Market practice: EU card programmes favour MiCA-compliant stablecoins such as USDC, EURC and EURe, because a single-currency token must come from an EU bank or e-money institution. Widely reported USDT delistings for EEA retail users follow from that, although we have not re-checked every platform.

Anonymous cards and the €150 cap

Many readers look for a card that skips ID checks altogether. Under EU law that only exists at very small amounts. The Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD5) lets member states waive some checks on e-money only if all conditions are met. The product must be non-reloadable, or capped at €150 a month and usable in one country. It can store no more than €150, buy only goods and services, and not be funded with other anonymous e-money. The waiver disappears for cash withdrawals above €50 and for online payments above €50 per transaction. Member states may also refuse anonymous prepaid cards entirely.

The rules get tighter from 10 July 2027, when the AML Regulation (EU) 2024/1624 applies. Article 19(7) keeps a low-value exemption up to €150. However, it excludes products linked to a payment account and products that let you swap the balance for cash or crypto-assets. That second condition rules out crypto cards by design. The AMLR also bans anonymous crypto accounts at CASPs. Our no-KYC cards guide explains what "no KYC" offers really sell, and why they so often end with frozen balances.

Tax is national, reporting is European

There is no EU crypto tax. MiCA regulates providers and says nothing about how your card payments are taxed. Each member state applies its own income or capital gains rules. Whether a card payment counts as a taxable disposal, whether there is a holding period, and whether cashback is income all depend on where you are tax-resident. Rules differ enough that copying advice from another country can cost you money. Germany, for example, exempts gains on crypto held for over a year. That rule does not travel to other member states.

What has become European is reporting. Under DAC8, which applies from 1 January 2026, crypto providers collect information on their users' transactions for tax authorities. The Transfer of Funds Regulation (EU) 2023/1113 has required "travel rule" data on crypto transfers since 30 December 2024. In practice, your card provider's records will reach your tax office whether or not you report the gains. Our general crypto card tax guide explains why each card payment usually counts as a disposal, and what records to keep.

How to choose a card by country

Start with your country, not the card. Check the provider's own eligibility list before you compare fees. Being a euro-area resident opens the Bitpanda Card. Living in Malta closes the Bybit Card. Living in Iceland or Liechtenstein closes OKX.

Then decide on custody. If you want your coins to stay in your own wallet until you pay, Bleap and MetaMask are the two EEA options in our data. Remember that Gnosis Pay announced the wind-down of its consumer card in September 2026. Self-custody limits the damage when an issuer fails, but the card can still stop working.

Then look at currency. If you live outside the euro area, in Poland, Sweden, Czechia or Hungary, a euro card means FX on every local purchase. Nexo's 0.2% weekday fee and Bleap's 0% matter more for you than for a German or Spanish user. Run your own numbers in our fees calculator. A card with 1% FX costs €120 a year if you spend €1,000 a month in zloty or kronor. Check the ATM terms too, in our ATM guide. For other regions, our country hub has the full map.

Frequently asked questions

Sources and official pages

1. ESMA — national MiCA grandfathering periods
2. EUR-Lex — Directive (EU) 2018/843 (AMLD5)
3. Crypto.com — EEA card terms
4. OKX — OKX Card Europe explained
5. Bybit EU — Bybit Card
6. Bleap — card fees and licence
7. SpectroCoin — card issuer and fees

Ready when you are

Load your card with crypto you own

Buy Bitcoin, Ether or stablecoins with a bank card, Apple Pay or bank transfer, then move them to the card or wallet you choose.

Open account

Check availability in your country before signing up.Visitors from the EEA currently see a MiCA service notice on the exchange linked here, and some account functions may be restricted. A MiCA-authorised provider may be the better route.

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