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% base FX on non-USD spending (the terms add up to 50bps more on the Core tier, so ~1.5% at worst)
• 3% rewards, paid in wETH (Ready Card Metal also does 3%, but pays in STRK)

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.

Fees and tiers per the official terms: Cashback Rewards Program Terms (version read here: updated 2026-09-08) and Cardholder Agreement. The terms reserve the right to change the reward token, rates and caps at any time, so check the live figures when you apply.

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.