Ether.fi Cash: No Annual Fee, 3% wETH, Self-Custodial Visa

TL;DR

Ether.fi Cash is a self-custodial Visa debit card, suited to anyone who holds ETH long-term and wants to keep the principal staking and earning while still spending. No annual fee, 1% FX on non-USD spending, and 3% rewards paid in wETH.

I picked it after comparing the Ready Card Metal and Lite tiers — here’s why.

Referral link: Ether.fi Cash referral sign-up link

Scan the QR with your phone to open it directly:

Why I picked this one

I compared the Ready Card and Ether.fi. Both Ready Card tiers felt a bit lacking for me:

• Metal Plan: a 120 USD annual fee to get fee-free FX on TWD spending — not worth it unless you spend a lot
• Lite: no annual fee but 1% FX per transaction and little in rewards — just a card you can swipe

Ether.fi Cash works out more reasonable:

• $0 annual fee
• 1% FX on non-USD spending (same as Ready Card Lite)
• but with 3% wETH rewards (Ready Card has none)

After subtracting the 1% FX and the FX loss / gas of cashing out wETH, I estimate the effective reward lands around 1.x%. Not amazing, but better than Ready Card Lite, and if you’re not trading heavily it feels more useful than Ready Card Metal — plus the reward is wETH versus Ready’s STRK.

For the full Ready Card details, see the Ready Card review.

Two payment modes

The card has two switchable modes:

• Direct Mode: standard debit-card idea — charges your balance directly
• Borrow Mode: leave assets like ETH as collateral so they keep earning staking yield, and the system auto-borrows USDC to pay when you spend — the principal stays put and you still spend

Borrow Mode is the card’s selling point. If you already hold a chunk of ETH staked, Borrow Mode opens a spending channel without sacrificing yield. Direct Mode is much like a card such as RedotPay — nothing special.

For now I still default to Direct Mode — spending is spending, and it feels simpler.

Physical vs virtual card

Both cards share the same account balance and can be used at once:

• Virtual card: free, usable immediately, and you can add it to Apple Pay right away to spend
• Physical card: $40 deposit to apply, mailed to you (officially 15+ business days). The extras are ATM withdrawals and better in-store support. Reach Luxe tier within 12 months and the $40 deposit is auto-refunded to your balance

I only got the virtual card; after adding it to Apple Pay, I can swipe in stores fine and rarely need the physical card, so I’ve held off on the $40 deposit for now.

The basics

Rewards are paid in wETH and flow automatically into the Liquid Vault — no manual claiming. Other tiers (Luxe / Pinnacle) have higher 3% caps, but the unlock thresholds aren’t low; most people are fine on the Core tier.

For detailed fees and the tier system, see the Ether.fi official page.

Remember to choose TWD at checkout

A quick habit worth mentioning. When the terminal asks “Pay in USD or TWD?”, I always choose TWD. Choosing USD or “let us convert for you” lets the merchant use their own exchange rate, usually worse; choosing TWD lets Ether.fi use its own rate, a bit better. Same card, same purchase — the only difference is which button you press.

Referral code and link

Ether.fi Cash referral sign-up link

Or scan the QR code with your phone:

My take

Ether.fi Cash and RedotPay are different types — RedotPay leans toward “a crypto exit for everyday small spending,” Ether.fi toward “a card DeFi players use on the side.” If you’re already into staking / restaking, this is an extension of your existing position; if you just want a card to spend USDT, RedotPay is probably still simpler.