Based card, reviewed: a crypto Visa with staking tiers, set against a published 74-country blocklist

Updated October 2026

Licensed

Available in US

Fast payouts

18+ Only

The Based card is a Visa debit that turns a crypto balance into everyday spend. It comes from SHA2 LABS PTE. LTD. in Singapore, at least according to the starting corporate data, and it is built around tiers — a virtual Orange tier, a plastic HYPE tier and a metal Gold tier — each tied to a $BASED staking lockup. The product is positioned for stakers of the BASED token who want crypto cashback on daily spend, and it behaves, in the pre-loaded balance sense, like a prepaid card: you top it up with stablecoins or other tokens, the app converts at the till, and the network settles in fiat. There is no signup or annual fee. There is a $50 shipping fee on the HYPE plastic and free shipping on the Gold metal. There is a published list of about 74 countries that will lose access from 1 August 2026, including the United States, Canada, Australia, China, India and Singapore. And there is a near-empty public review trail — a single three-out-of-five Trustpilot post in May 2026 — which means most of what you can say about the card today is drawn from the card’s own pages.

The conditions described here are current as of October 28, 2026.

Verdict: 6.9 out of 10 — a tidy staking-aligned card with thin public track record

Based earns a 6.9 out of 10 in my reading, and that score reflects a real split between what the card does well and what it does not yet prove.

On the upside, the cost story is clean. There is no signup fee, no annual fee, no top-up fee on USDT or USDC, and the FX markup scales with the tier you choose — 2.5% on Orange, 1.5% on HYPE, 0% on Gold. Top-up options are unusually broad for a card of this size: USDT, USDC, XSGD, SOL, HYPE and BASED, on Solana, Arbitrum, Polygon and Hyperliquid, with auto-conversion at the point of sale. Apple Pay and Google Pay are listed as supported in the documentation, and a virtual card is available immediately after KYC.

On the downside, the published information does not name the issuing bank, the card’s licence, or the custodian behind the locked $BASED positions. The Trustpilot profile carries a single review — three out of five, dated 24 May 2026 — and the reviewer reports capped cashback, no Apple Pay despite the docs, and ATM withdrawals that are not enabled. The 1 August 2026 country shortlist removes access from a large block of users, including the United States, Canada and Singapore, where the operating company itself is registered. The cashback requires staking, which adds a layer of exposure to the BASED token’s price, and the benefits end the moment unstaking begins.

The card suits people who already hold or are willing to lock $BASED, who live outside the restricted list, and who are comfortable with the absence of named issuer and custodian. It does not suit users who need an ATM, who are in one of the excluded countries, who want fiat-to-spend on a credit-style card, or who prefer cards from companies that publish their banking partner and licence.

Score breakdown

Will they give you the card: a 74-country shortlist, with notable names inside

The headline rule is straightforward: Based is offered worldwide except a published list of about 74 countries that will lose access from 1 August 2026. Inside that list are several markets that often show up in the eligibility fine print of similar products — Russian Federation, Belarus, United States, Canada, Australia, China, India, Singapore, Ukraine, Iran, Turkey — and others not enumerated on the page. The way the card itself frames eligibility is the second part of the rule: “see whether you can apply from your country of residence.” What that means in practice is that the gate is your country of residence, not your citizenship, but a sanctions-style nationality check sits underneath, because KYC and screening are run on the applicant.

A practical reading: if you live in a country that is not on the published list on 1 August 2026, you can apply. If your country is on the list after that date, you cannot, regardless of citizenship. The list is a moving target, in the sense that the card can change it, and the start date is firm.

If you are between countries, or planning to relocate, the card does not promise continuity; the country on your application and on your KYC documents is what matters at the time of issue and at each renewal. If you travel for long stretches, what the card settles in is still USD, so the FX markups in the costs section still apply on non-USD spend.

How to get it: KYC, ID, a virtual card in minutes and a physical one in the post

The flow is designed to be done in the Based app, and it follows a familiar pattern for this kind of product.

Identity verification is the only gate. Based calls it KYC and runs it inside the app, with a screening window that the company describes as “typically up to 3 days.” Accepted documents are a passport or a national ID card; driver’s licences and voter IDs are not in the accepted list. The applicant must be at least 18 and a resident of a country where the card is offered. The page does not list a separate proof-of-address requirement, but in practice the compliance team can ask for more documents, and the contact for that is the email address [email protected]. If rejection happens, the company does not publish the reasons, so a refusal arrives as a result, not a discussion.

The cards themselves are Visa debit cards. A virtual card is available “instantly after approval.” The physical plastic is tied to the HYPE tier, and the metal card — listed at 20 g — is the Based Gold tier. The card settles in USD by default; if you spend in another currency, the FX markup from your tier applies at conversion. A Based Orange card is described as virtual only and is also noted as “not yet available,” which is worth checking before you lock up $BASED for a tier you expected to use.

Delivery is by DHL per the page. Shipping is free for the Gold tier and $50 for the HYPE tier. The page does not publish countries served beyond the eligibility list, and it does not give a delivery window, so the realistic expectation is “a few business days to a few weeks, depending on destination and customs.”

What it really costs: no annual fee, but the FX ladder and the $BASED lockup do the work

There is no signup fee, and there is no annual fee. The card’s running cost is built from three moving parts: a one-off shipping fee if you order a HYPE plastic, the FX markup on non-USD spend, and the opportunity cost of the $BASED lockup that gates the better tiers.

Here is the cost shape in one place, with values taken from the card’s own pages.

What the table says in plain English: if you are an occasional traveller who spends in USD, the tier choice is largely cosmetic. If you spend a meaningful share of your budget in EUR, GBP, JPY or other non-USD currencies, the Gold tier’s 0% markup is a real saving — and the HYPE tier’s 1.5% is half of Orange’s 2.5%. The lockup, though, is the quiet cost. 10,000 $BASED for HYPE and 100,000 $BASED for Gold are not numbers; they are exposure to the BASED token’s price, and when you decide to unstake, there is a 21-day wait from redemption followed by a 3-day cooldown, during which you are exposed and during which, per the page, “all benefits end when unstaking begins.”

Three everyday payments, walked through

The costs in the table are easier to read against real numbers. Below are three everyday payments on a HYPE-tier card, the most common of the three; the FX markup applies wherever the merchant settles in a currency other than USD.

A €40 dinner in Berlin. The card settles in USD, and the FX markup is 1.5%. The total cost above the menu price is roughly 60 cents of markup, plus whatever the network charges the merchant (which the merchant may or may not pass on). You do not pay a card-side conversion fee on top of the markup; the markup is the FX line.

A $30 streaming subscription paid in USDC. You top up USDC on Polygon (a network choice, not a fee choice — the top-up itself is free), and the card debits the equivalent in USD at the till. The merchant sees a USD charge, so the FX markup does not apply, and there is no top-up fee. The only “cost” is the small chance of USDC depeg between the time you top up and the time the subscription clears.

A £15 train ticket bought with a freshly topped-up USDT on Solana. The card converts USDT to a USD balance on load (or at point of sale, the documentation is not precise on this), then converts USD to GBP at the merchant’s settlement. The 1.5% FX markup applies to the GBP side, so the ticket costs you about 22 pence more than the headline price. The underlying USDT top-up has no added fee, but you are still paying the network fee on Solana for the original transfer — that is a blockchain cost, not a Based cost.

The pattern that runs through all three is the same: the card is cheap to use, the markup is the only recurring card-side cost, and the lockup is the cost most users underestimate.

Top up: stablecoins and tokens on four networks, with no top-up fee on USDT and USDC

Topping up the Based card starts with sending one of the supported tokens to the deposit address shown in the app, on one of the supported networks. The list of supported tokens is USDT, USDC, XSGD, SOL, HYPE and BASED, and the supported networks are Solana, Arbitrum, Polygon and Hyperliquid. The page answers the most common question directly: “No, there are no top-up fees for USDT and USDC.” Two things it does not say in the pages I read: a minimum top-up amount, and whether the network fee on the underlying blockchain is paid by the sender (which is the standard pattern) or by Based. The safe assumption is the standard pattern: you pay the network fee, Based does not add to it.

There is no fiat top-up described in the documentation, and there is no withdrawal section on the card page. If you need to move value back out, the documented path is the app, and the specifics are not stated — the page simply does not cover the reverse direction.

A few things to check before your first top-up, because the cost of a wrong network on a card like this is the full amount, with no recovery guarantee.

• The token and the network. The app shows a deposit address per token and per network. Sending USDC on Ethereum to a Polygon address, or USDT on Tron to a Solana address, is a common and irreversible mistake.
• The amount of native gas your sending wallet holds. ERC-20 USDT needs ETH to pay gas; Polygon USDT needs POL; Arbitrum USDT needs ETH on Arbitrum; Solana uses SOL. If the wallet is empty, the transfer will not leave the wallet.
• The auto-conversion behaviour. The page says the card “auto-converts at point of sale,” but it does not say what happens to non-USD top-ups held on the card. Treat the card as a USD card, and treat non-USD top-ups as something to be spent quickly.
• Stablecoin risk. Tether and Circle each publish on-chain freezing and address-blacklist policies, and a stablecoin can depeg, as TerraUSD did in 2022 and USDC briefly did in March 2023. The card does not insure you against either.

Paying with it every day: virtual instantly, Apple Pay and Google Pay by documentation, ATM not enabled

The everyday experience starts in the Based app, where the virtual card is available as soon as KYC clears. From there, the documented use cases are online spend wherever Visa is taken, and mobile-wallet tap-to-pay through Apple Pay and Google Pay once the card is added. The Based Gold tier also carries four airport lounge visits per year, which is a small but useful perk for a card that has no annual fee.

Cashback is the other running element. It is paid in $BASED at the start of each month: 2% on HYPE, capped at $20 a month; 4% on Gold, capped at $100 a month. There is also an AI subscription rebate (up to $10 a month on HYPE, up to $100 a month on Gold) and an entertainment rebate (up to $20 a month on Gold). The page labels all of this “promotional and may change,” and all of it ends when you start unstaking.

Two user reports, both from a single Trustpilot post dated 24 May 2026, conflict with the documentation. The reviewer says Apple Pay was not supported at the time of writing, despite the docs saying it is, and that ATM withdrawals were not enabled. The docs do not list ATM in the features, so the second point is consistent with the page; the first point is not. Treat the docs as the source of truth and the user report as a flag to test the feature in the app before relying on it.

What the card does not say is also worth noting. The page does not publish blocked merchant categories, which means gambling, adult, crypto-buying or other high-risk categories are not stated as blocked or allowed. The page does not state dispute or chargeback procedures, which matters when a transaction goes wrong. The page does not state what happens to a held authorisation, which on most networks can keep funds reserved for up to seven days. None of these is unusual for a card at this stage, but together they are a list of things to test before you commit a large balance.

What can go wrong: thin public track record, no named issuer, lockup exposure, restricted list

The most useful frame for risk on this card is to separate what Based states from what Based does not state, and to layer the category-level risks on top.

On the company side, Based is operated by SHA2 LABS PTE. LTD., a Singapore-registered entity, at least according to the starting data. The site footer carries only the word “Based.” The card page does not name the issuing bank, the card programme licence, the e-money or payment-services registration, or the custodian that holds the locked $BASED. None of that is automatically a red flag, but it is a transparency gap that a regulated card programme in the EU or the UK would normally fill in. For the EU specifically, MiCA’s transitional period runs until 1 July 2026, which means a card that wants to keep serving EU users through that date has to be either authorised under MiCA or live under a national regime that is allowed to continue; after that date, EU service depends on a CASP authorisation or a partner that holds one.

On the public-feedback side, the Trustpilot profile for Based is unclaimed, with a 3.4 average over a single review posted on 24 May 2026. The reviewer titled the review “Mediocre support” and made three points: cashback requires a meaningful $BASED lockup and is capped at $20 or $100 a month, Apple Pay was not working when the review was written, and ATM withdrawals are not enabled. There is no incident history in the public sources — no shutdown, no programme termination, no fraud report. That is a thin track record in either direction: no scandals, but also no scale evidence.

On the card-design side, the lockup is the largest single risk for most users. The HYPE tier requires 10,000 $BASED to be staked, and the Gold tier requires 100,000 $BASED. While the $BASED is staked, it is exposed to the token’s price, and unstaking takes 21 days from the redemption request plus a 3-day cooldown, during which the cashback, the FX tier and the lounge visits all end. A drop in the BASED price therefore cuts both the value of the locked tokens and the rewards paid in those tokens, at the same time.

On the country side, the 1 August 2026 list removes access from a large block of users, including the United States, Canada, Australia, China, India, Singapore (the home market of the operating company), Ukraine, Iran, Turkey and Belarus. If your country of residence is on that list, the card is not available to you; if it is not on the list today but is added later, the card’s behaviour at that point is not stated in the documentation.

On the category side, the same risks that apply to other crypto cards apply here. Stablecoins can depeg and can be frozen by the issuer. Crypto transfers are irreversible, so a wrong-network deposit is gone, and a wallet-key compromise is unrecoverable. Card authorisations can be declined by merchants that treat the BIN range as foreign or prepaid, and a held authorisation can lock funds for several days even when the merchant cancels it. A card that draws on a custodial balance carries the counterparty and hack risk of the custodian — a risk that has materialised repeatedly in this category, with Mt. Gox, Coincheck and Ronin Network the most cited examples.

What to take instead: three cards that solve different problems

If Based is not a fit, the alternative depends on what was missing. Below are three cards that line up against Based on different axes, with what each one is better at and what each one asks in return.

Gemini is the credit-style option. It is a Mastercard World Elite that is paid off in fiat, so the rewards are paid in crypto on top of a normal credit-card transaction, and the FX and conversion questions that sit on top of a prepaid crypto card do not apply. The cost is the credit-card model: a credit check, an issuer that may decline thin credit files, and rewards that are capped by category and monthly volume. It suits someone who wants a credit card with crypto rewards, not a prepaid card funded from a wallet.

Lava is the low-friction option. “No annual fees,” “no FX fees, and no FX spread” is a strong pair of claims, and the 5% bitcoin-back rate is among the higher rates in the category. The page does not state the network, the form factor (virtual or physical), or the funding networks, so a would-be applicant has to dig. It suits someone who wants a flat-fee card with high cashback and is willing to read the fine print.

GoMining is the option for users who already use the GoMining mining product. Opening a card grants a free 1 TH miner, the cashback is paid in mining power that rises with VIP level, and the funding comes from the GoMining wallet in BTC, USDT, GOMINING and other coins. The costs and fee structure are not officially stated, and the physical card is listed as “coming soon.” It suits a GoMining user who wants the cashback-in-mining-power model and is comfortable with a card whose cost page is not yet public.

What none of these alternatives solve is the country shortlist. If your country of residence is on Based’s 1 August 2026 list, the same restriction tends to apply across the category, because the same sanctions and licensing rules drive it. The pragmatic answer for users in restricted countries is to check each provider directly, because the list of countries served and the list of nationalities served are not always the same list, and a provider that does not serve your country today can change that.

Who I would recommend it to

If you already hold $BASED, or you are willing to take a deliberate position in it, the card is a tidy way to put that position to work. The HYPE tier at 10,000 $BASED is the more interesting of the two staking tiers for most users: the 1.5% FX markup is half of Orange’s, the 2% cashback is small but real, and the $50 shipping is a one-off cost. The Gold tier at 100,000 $BASED is a different scale of decision; it makes sense if you are already a large BASED holder and the 0% FX markup, the 4% cashback, the lounge visits and the free metal card are genuinely worth a five-figure lockup in a single token.

If you do not hold $BASED, the calculus changes. The Orange tier has no lockup, but the page lists it as “not yet available,” so for now there is no lockup-free option in production. The HYPE and Gold tiers are staking products first and payment cards second, and the rewards are paid in the token you are exposed to. That is fine if you want the exposure; it is not fine if you want a card that pays cashback in a stable unit.

The card does not suit users who need an ATM, users who are in one of the 74 countries on the 1 August 2026 list, users who want a fiat-to-spend credit card, and users who want a programme that names its issuing bank and its licence on the front page. The cashback caps ($20 and $100 a month) are also a ceiling worth knowing before you optimise your spend towards the card.

The honest summary is that Based is a card for a specific reader: a $BASED staker outside the restricted list, comfortable with the lockup, comfortable with a small public track record, and looking for a low-fee Visa that pays its rewards in the same token. If that is you, it is a clean product. If it is not, the alternatives above are where to look.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Based card?

The Based card is a Visa debit card issued through the Based app and operated by SHA2 LABS PTE. LTD. in Singapore. It converts a crypto balance into everyday spend, in three tiers: a virtual Orange tier (not yet available), a plastic HYPE tier and a metal Gold tier, with the two paid tiers tied to a $BASED staking lockup.

Is Based a bank?

No. Based is a card programme operated by a Singapore-registered company, not a bank. The card page does not name the issuing bank or the card programme licence, and the company behind the card describes itself through the app rather than through a published banking partnership.

Who owns Based?

According to the starting corporate data, the operating company is SHA2 LABS PTE. LTD., registered in Singapore. The site footer carries only the word “Based,” and the card pages do not list individual owners, board members or investors.

How does Based card work?

You complete KYC in the Based app, get a virtual card immediately on approval, top it up with one of the supported tokens (USDT, USDC, XSGD, SOL, HYPE or BASED) on one of the supported networks (Solana, Arbitrum, Polygon or Hyperliquid), and the card converts the balance to fiat at the point of sale. The card settles in USD by default; non-USD spend carries the FX markup of your tier.

Is Based card available in my country?

Based is offered worldwide except a published list of about 74 countries that lose access from 1 August 2026, including the United States, Canada, Australia, China, India, Singapore, Ukraine, Iran, Turkey, Belarus and the Russian Federation. The card checks eligibility by country of residence, not by citizenship, but you have to be at least 18 and a resident of a country where the card is offered.

How do I get a Based card?

Download the Based app, complete KYC with a passport or national ID card (driver’s licences and voter IDs are not accepted), wait for screening (typically up to three days, with possible follow-up document requests to [email protected]), and the virtual card is available immediately on approval. The physical HYPE plastic costs $50 to ship; the Gold metal is free.

Does Based card require KYC?

Yes. Based runs a single KYC step inside the app, with a screening window of typically up to three days, against an accepted list of passport or national ID card only. The card page does not state a separate proof-of-address requirement, but the compliance team can ask for more documents at its discretion.

How do I top up Based card?

Open the Based app, choose a supported token (USDT, USDC, XSGD, SOL, HYPE or BASED) and one of the supported networks (Solana, Arbitrum, Polygon or Hyperliquid), and send the funds to the deposit address the app shows. There is no added fee on USDT or USDC deposits; the network fee on the underlying blockchain is paid by the sender in the standard way.

Can I withdraw cash from a Based card at an ATM?

The card’s documentation does not list ATM cash withdrawal as a feature, and a Trustpilot reviewer posted in May 2026 that ATM withdrawals were not enabled. The docs do not state whether ATM access is planned for a future tier.

How do I add Based card to Apple Wallet?

The documentation states that Apple Pay and Google Pay are supported, and the standard flow is to open the Based app, choose the card, and tap “Add to Apple Wallet.” A Trustpilot reviewer in May 2026 reported that Apple Pay was not working at the time of writing, which conflicts with the docs, so it is worth testing the feature in the app before relying on it.

Is Based card safe?

The card runs on a Visa debit rail, the documentation does not name the issuer or the custodian behind the locked $BASED, and the public feedback is a single three-out-of-five Trustpilot review posted on 24 May 2026 with no incident history. The card carries the standard category risks: stablecoin depeg, irreversible crypto transfers, custodian exposure and the lockup exposure of the staked $BASED that gates the HYPE and Gold tiers.

Is Based card worth it?

It depends on whether you want exposure to $BASED. If you already hold or are willing to lock $BASED, the HYPE tier’s 1.5% FX markup, 2% cashback and $50 plastic are a tidy package; the Gold tier’s 0% FX markup and 4% cashback are a stronger package at five times the lockup. If you do not want $BASED exposure, the Orange tier is currently listed as “not yet available,” and the card’s value drops sharply.

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