Blockrize is a yet to launch credit card that plans to offer users cryptocurrency as rewards (Bitcoin and Ethereum) that has been getting a little bit of hype recently. Let’s take a look as part of our Weird Card Wednesday series.
Contents
Card Basics
- Earn 1% back in cryptocurrency on every purchase
- No mention of fees, issuing bank or payment network
Our Verdict
This card is pointless. On their homepage they state that in 2017 the card offering the equivalent of:
- 6.7% cash back rate for Bitcoin rewards
- 16.6% cash back rate for Ethereum rewards
The problem is that the card didn’t exist in 2017 and still doesn’t exist. In addition those high rates are due to massive gains both cryptocurrencies made in 2017, there is no guarantee we will see those again (and also obviously risk they will decrease). In addition if I put the same spend on a 2% card and then invested in either cryptocurrency I would have doubled those listed returns. Even if you’re paying massive fees to purchase cryptocurrency, you’d be much better off with a card that earns at a high rate on all purchases rather than this joke of a card.
Hat tip to VFTW
You know your projects stand out of the herd. There is something special about them. It seems to me all of them are really brilliant!
4/01/2018
Agree that 1% back is vastly inferior to 2% and other better cashback credit cards. This card does have a customer base. Not for us here on Doctor of Credit who find it fun to spend time saving money, but for the opposite (that also believe in cryptocurrency / blockchain). Similar to how a 401K just simply takes money from your paycheck and puts it into an investment account, this would do the same thing (crypto cashback into an online wallet).
Even if you believe in cryptocurrency it makes sense to use a 2% card and use rewards to buy crypto.
William, agree that for people like us that spend time to spend less money and save more money, this card doesn’t make sense.
But for those that don’t spend time to spend less money and save more money, this card is a great one. It’s similar to a 401K that’s automatically getting funded from your paycheck. The crypto gets automatically funded from your purchases. When you retire, along with your 401k, you also have a crypto nest to pull from.
It’s not a good card. You’re earning half the rewards you’d normally earn. You need cryptocurrency to double in value even to break even. This card is awful.
William, let’s try this one more time.
You and I, almost everyone on Doctor of Credit, spend lots of time to spend less (on services & products) and save more (credit card cashback, manufactured spending, discount gift cards, high interest bank accounts, etc). This is our hobby.
So for us, I agree, this card is awful. For my friends & family that are financially stable, I try so hard to motivate them towards multiple cashback credit cards (NRA for 5% gas, Uber for 4% at restaurants, etc.). They’re just not interested…creatures of habit I guess. At least, most of them have a 2% cashback credit card.
So, this is not a hobby for the majority of the population. Their retirement income is at a minimum Social Security and a 401K. Many others also have pensions, Roth/Traditional IRAs, etc
Consider this…if this Blockrize credit card existed on Jan 1st of 2017, that measly 1% of Bitcoin cashback for each purchase would have been WAY more than double the value. If the credit card would have existed before Jan 1st 2017? Holy Moley…you can do the math.
There is a customer base for this card, but it is not us. I completely agree with you.
William, does this perspective on this credit card make sense? If not, can you help me better explain this? Thanks!
No it doesn’t make sense. Even if somebody doesn’t want to invest a lot of time into this hobby they can simply get a 2% cash back card INSTEAD of signing up for this card. They would be 2x as better off doing that than using this card.
> if this Blockrize credit card existed on Jan 1st of 2017, that measly 1% of Bitcoin cashback for each purchase would have been WAY more than double the value. If the credit card would have existed before Jan 1st 2017
Cool, if the same people had a 2% card and invested their rewards at the same time they would have DOUBLE the amount of rewards. This card is awful, it isn’t good for anybody. Even if you’re a massive crypto fan and think it will go up in price 100x, just use your rewards to buy crypto instead.
William, thank you so much for your time responding to this thread.
William, I believe in you. It’s okay to say, “I see what you mean. Thanks for the insight.” even after you say something that’s the opposite. We all learn from each other. That’s one of the beauties of life.
Let’s do a comparison with another credit card to try to grow our understanding together…
Similar to the Blockrize card is the Fidelity VISA. They both cards for consumers who don’t like to spend time to log into credit card website x, then log into investment website y, then log into crypto exchange website z, and so on. For the Fidelity VISA the 2% “cashback” is automatically deposited into an investment account. For Blockrize, the 1% “cashback” is automatically invested in cryptocurrency (with no transactions fees too!). They both provide an additional source of retirement income for those (which is most people) that don’t have the same hobby as us.
William, I’m really trying to understand, so I have a few more questions if you don’t mind.
Have you read or wrote something (a book, blog comment etc.) a long time ago, then read it again years later and the words make more sense / mean so much more, or you go “why in the world did I write that, and laugh”?
Or have you had a belief when you were younger, then over time, you couldn’t believe how ridiculous that belief was?
Also, I do sincerely appreciate all the information you provide on this website. Love how the summary is first, then the details, then the verdict. The readers provide some extremely helpful comments too, and then you roll them beautifully into the main article. It’s awesome!
Have you read or wrote something (a book, blog comment etc.) a long time ago, then read it again years later and the words make more sense / mean so much more, or you go “why in the world did I write that, and laugh”?
Yes.
I understand what you’re saying, the difference with the Fidelity card is that it earns 2% cash back. I’m sure that some crypto fans that don’t understand credit card rewards program will think this is a good card. My job is to educate people why this is not the case. I think this is a bad card, you’re effectively betting on the fact that crypto will double to break even and if you truly believe that will happen again I’d recommend taking the time to cash out your rewards from a 2% card and then invest in crypto. You’re then instantly doubling your crypto investment compared to using this card.
Time + Potential Hands-off Growth. That’s the reason why both the Fidelity VISA and Blockrize are cards for others not like us.
Person uses card to make purchase => Investment / Crypto Account funded. With no additional time spent by person to get money into into the investment / crypto account. You’re sacrificing money savings for time savings. People like us don’t do that, but we are in the minority. We spend time actively cashing out our rewards on statement credits, buying discount gift cards, applying for credit cards with bonuses then using those cards, etc.). I love it and have saved SO much money because of it. A lot of it is thanks to you…and I truly do appreciate it.
With their being time savings, there’s more interest by others not like us…and the crypto market has way more potential to grow faster than the stock market. But both have track records of growing.
William, I agree that ideally we inspire others to spend more time on maximizing the dollar. Heck, everyone should spend more time on relationships so we can all work together more effectively & efficiently in a collective positive way (maybe cure cancer, etc.).
Does this make sense? Thanks again for continuing this awesome dialogue.
Fidelity is different because the card earns at 2% anyway. If people really want to invest in crypto using rewards and can’t be bothered buying it with their cash back rewards, then this card makes sense. I’d say that is a very tiny portion of the population and even those people would be much better served by using a 2% card. It just doesn’t make any sense to use this card IMO.
I love weird card Wednesdays
How about credit union credit cards or smaller banks instead of those crazy ones? HAA HAA
If you have an interesting card you’d like us to cover, you just need to let us know about it.
” The title should include “Failure to Launch” 🙂
I don’t really see what is a joke about this card. All I see is another 1% card, but with the potential of returning much more.
If you don’t see the joke, then you didn’t pay attention in math class.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgct3Jn8pFA
HAH! That was great!
It has no potential to return more. 1% is 1% regardless what currency you receive it in.
Exactly. This card is a cut-and-dry loser for anyone, ESPECIALLY anyone who buys crypto already 😛 Hope Coinbase adds “buy” with PayPal for next quarter’s Chase Freedom 😀
I like how you made a new tag ‘weird card wednesday’ just for this 🙂
It’s not new, it’s part of a series of posts we run.
But the old tag is here: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/tag/weird-wednesday/
The one you have for this card is: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/tag/weird-card-wednesday/