What Bipa actually offers, and who should switch their spending to it

Updated October 2026

Licensed

Available in US

Fast payouts

18+ Only

If you have been looking for a normal-looking payment card that spends from a crypto balance rather than from a bank account you do not really want to touch, Bipa is worth putting on a shortlist. It is a Brazilian app, priced in reais, that hands you a Mastercard — virtual and physical — plus a prepaid side and a credit side that behaves rather more like a secured card than a bank card. On paper that is an unusual combination, and it is the reason I wanted to sit down with the details rather than skim them.

I read through the card’s own pages for the things people actually ask: who gets one, what it costs, how you load it, what happens when a payment goes wrong. Here is what I found, including the parts that are not stated anywhere I could see. The conditions described below are current as of October 28, 2026.

Verdict: 5.9 out of 10

My score is 5.9 / 10. That is not a rounding of a 6, and I would rather say plainly where the marks come from than bury them. The card is competent, and its top-up options are genuinely the best of anything I have looked at in this category. But Bipa is a Brazilian product with Brazilian terms, priced in reais, and the single most important question for most people reading this — am I eligible at all — is not answered on the pages I could read. A card that scores 2 out of 10 on eligibility cannot be carried high by anything else.

Who this suits: Brazilian residents who want Bitcoin cashback in reais, who are comfortable with an app-first Brazilian product, and who want to spend in reais without touching a traditional bank for the crypto side. The rewards structure is genuinely attractive — Satsback on every card purchase, plus a separate reward on the reais you leave sitting as collateral.

Who it does not suit: anyone outside Brazil who found the name and got excited. Anyone who needs a card this month and cannot afford to discover the eligibility rules by trial and error. Anyone who travels often and wants to know the foreign-exchange rate before they book a hotel — the rate is only described as possibly differing from the Central Bank of Brazil average, and the IOF rate is not named. And anyone whose main concern is predictability of fees, because several of the numbers you would want are simply not published in the places I read.

Will they give you the card?

Short answer: if you are in Brazil, probably. If you are not, read the rest of this page anyway, because the answer is effectively no, and the reasoning matters.

The card’s public pages do not state its eligibility rules. That is not me being evasive — the conditions for issuance are simply not written on what I could read. What is written is that Bipa is a Brazilian company, that the plans are priced in reais, and that the credit side is based on Brazilian risk criteria. Everything else about who qualifies is not stated.

There is one useful signal buried in the credit terms: the credit card is backed by reais kept as collateral or guarantee. That is a Brazilian secured-credit structure, and it is what makes the credit line possible at all for people without a long banking history. If you are used to credit cards that decide your limit from your income and your credit file, that is a different world, and a narrower one.

So the practical position is this. Bipa is a Brazilian product for Brazilian residents, and the app is Portuguese only. If you are in Brazil, your next question is whether you are comfortable with the collateral model on the credit side, or whether you will simply use the prepaid side and leave the credit card alone. Both are legitimate; they are two different products sharing one app.

How to get it

The application itself is straightforward in outline: you sign up, you send a selfie and a document, and the card exists. What happens around that is where I would slow you down.

At sign-up, Bipa asks for a selfie and an identity document. Both Bipa and Stark Bank, the card issuer, may verify your data at any time. That second part is worth pausing on: the ability to re-verify later is normal in Brazilian financial services and it can block your spending if you stop responding. The page also says that false information can lead to suspension and card cancellation, which is a fairly standard warning that still deserves to be read carefully before you type anything.

You must be an adult individual. Credit limit approval depends on a prior analysis by Bipa, so a successful signup does not mean you get the credit card.

The card you end up with is a Mastercard, in one of three tiers: Gold (Free and Plus plans), Platinum (Pro) and Black (Max). There is both a prepaid card and a credit card, called Bipa Crédito, and the credit card can buy Bitcoin on credit in up to three instalments. A virtual card exists as well, and the prepaid limit can be enabled in crypto, with settlement per clause 5.9 of the Card Terms. The card currency is BRL, which follows from the plans being priced in reais.

Physical delivery: the physical card is free on Pro and Max and carries a fee on Free and Plus, with the amount not stated. Delivery time is “per the periods informed by the support channels” — that is the card’s wording, and it means you will not find a number anywhere, only a support answer.

What it really costs: Fees

Here is the honest version. The plan fees are published. Almost everything else that could surprise you at a till is pointed at a price table I could not see, or described in words rather than numbers.

Now three everyday payments, and what I can tell you about each.

Paying R$40 of groceries in São Paulo on the prepaid card. This is the case the card is actually built for. No conversion is involved, the money is already reais, and the fees I can name are the plan fee — which is R$0 on Free — and your Satsback at 0% on Free or up to 1.5% on Max, which pays you rather than costing you. What I cannot promise is the absence of something, because card-level fees are not published on the pages I read. Check the price table before you rely on the card for a large recurring bill.

Paying R$25 for a coffee in a peso shop on the Plus plan. Same shape: R$14.90 a month unless usage waives it, plus no conversion, plus 0.5% Satsback in Bitcoin. The crypto bought with the card itself is excluded from the rewards, which is slightly strange to say out loud but means buying Bitcoin with the card earns nothing. Credit-card rewards post after the invoice is paid; prepaid rewards post after settlement.

Paying USD 60 in a hotel abroad. This is the one to plan around. Foreign use is limited to travel and personal expenses, and only in credit mode — so the prepaid card will not do this. The exchange rate may differ from the Central Bank average, in either direction, and the IOF rate is not named in the terms. Taxes on remittance abroad are your own responsibility. I am not going to guess what that adds up to, because you should not either: the number that matters is the one in the price table, and I could not read it.

How to Top up

This is where Bipa is genuinely strong, and it is why the top-up score is 8 out of 10 rather than something lower. Two routes, both first-class.

Two things to internalise. First, USDT on Solana is not an option, and that catches people out, because Solana is otherwise listed among the supported networks and USDT exists there natively. If your USDT sits on Solana, you will need to move it or use a different coin. Second, deposit fees are not stated, and on-chain transfers cost network gas regardless of what the provider charges — that is the blockchain’s fee, not Bipa’s.

The credit side works differently from the prepaid side. The prepaid limit can be enabled in crypto, settled per clause 5.9 of the Card Terms. The credit card is backed by reais held as collateral. Plan fees are debited from the prepaid limit or from your reais balance. Specific coins and networks for the credit side are not stated.

On the way out, there is a withdrawal guide (“Como sacar ou transferir Dolar (USDT)”) and a limit of US$100,000 on international crypto transfers — I only saw the titles, so treat both as facts about the existence of a limit, not about its mechanics. On cancellation, there is no plan or card cancellation fee, but Bipa may deduct amounts owed from the available balance. And a detail that catches people out: cancelling the card does not cancel the plan. You have to do both.

Paying with it every day

Here is where Bipa is nicer than the general run of crypto cards, because it is not only a crypto product. Mastercard, virtual and physical, prepaid and credit. That means you get a card number that behaves like any other card number in most of the world, with a virtual card available immediately in the app.

Rewards come in two layers, which is unusual and worth understanding separately.

The first is Satsback: Bitcoin on card purchases, in the amount of Free 0%, Plus 0.5%, Pro 1%, Max 1.5%. Crypto bought with the card is excluded. Credit-card rewards post after the invoice is paid, prepaid rewards after settlement.

The second is a separate collateral reward in BTC on the reais you keep as guarantee, and these rates are the reason I would look at Pro or Max at all: Free 75% of CDI; Plus 100% of CDI up to R$3,000 and 90% above that; Pro 110% up to R$5,000 and 100% above; Max 115% up to R$5,000 and 100% above. It requires an active card. In plain terms: if you are going to leave a few thousand reais sitting as collateral anyway, the difference between Free and Max is a real return on that money, paid in Bitcoin.

Support levels follow the plan: Normal on Free and Plus, Preferencial on Pro, and Concierge via WhatsApp on Max.

Wallets are where the answer is thin. The card “may be enabled in digital wallets according to eligibility”, and that is all it says. Apple Pay and Google Pay are not named. If being able to tap your phone is the reason you want the card, you need to install it and find out, because I cannot tell you from the page. One more thing to know: some transactions classified as MoneySend by the processor are blocked, and there is no published list of blocked merchant categories.

The app’s own numbers, which are the company’s claim as of when I read them, are App Store 4.8 and Google Play 4.7 across 20,000+ ratings, with 300,000+ downloads. Treat them as marketing figures rather than independent measurement.

What can go wrong

Start with the two that are most likely to bite an ordinary user, because they are not exotic.

Converting on the wrong network loses money, permanently. Blockchain transfers are irreversible. A deposit sent on a network Bipa does not support, or to an address belonging to another network, can simply be gone or need manual support recovery with no guarantee. With USDT on Ethereum (ERC-20) or Polygon only, a Solana user has to pay attention. And a wallet holding USDT with no ETH cannot send at all, because gas on Ethereum is paid in ETH only.

A decline can leave a hold on your money. Declined authorisations may leave a hold that stays for several days, typically up to 7. This is not fraud, it is how card authorisation works, but it can look like your balance has shrunk.

Then the bigger structural risks.

Card programmes do close. Visa and Mastercard do not issue crypto cards themselves — they license issuers and can suspend a programme. In November 2022 Visa said it had terminated its global agreements with FTX, and the FTX US debit card programme was wound down by its issuer. WaveCrest, a Visa issuer that supplied crypto card brands, was suspended by Visa in Europe in 2018, closing all WaveCrest-issued Visa programmes. Closures typically give notice, then stop spending and loading, then ask you to withdraw. You cannot plan around this; you can only notice it early.

Where the money sits. Bipa describes itself as both a payment institution and a virtual asset service provider, regulated by the Central Bank of Brazil as a company claim. The card issuer is Stark Bank S.A. Instituicao de Pagamento, and the plans are offered with BIPA Instituicao de Pagamento Ltda (CNPJ 40.910.463/0001-05). Bipa Intermediação de Ativos Digitais LTDA (CNPJ 37.008.710/0001-78) was founded in 2020 in Brazil. There was R$17 million in funding from Ego Death Capital, per the company’s own page, undated. If Bipa or Stark Bank fails, or a programme is wound down, your balance is at risk in a way a bank deposit under a guarantee scheme is not.

Disputes, which are the part people most often get wrong. Unrecognised transactions must be reported within 5 days of the transaction. Stark Bank does a preliminary analysis, then a final one “within the period defined by Stark Bank” — no number. Bipa does not assume responsibility for the outcome. There is a 7-day right of withdrawal for online purchases. And note this: chargebacks reverse the Satsback, so the reward you were credited will be clawed back if the payment is successfully disputed.

Security mechanics that work in your favour: three wrong PIN entries block the card, and you unlock it in the app. You report loss or theft to support to block it. Bipa and Stark Bank never ask for passwords — that line is worth reading twice, because impersonation is the commonest fraud against Brazilian fintechs. Bipa answers for third-party misuse only after the block has been requested, which is a meaningful limit: if you wait, you carry the loss. Custody arrangements and insurance are not stated.

Support is Portuguese only. In-app chat via profile > “Ajuda e suporte”, Help Center chat and form with a reply promised up to 24 business hours, social media, and [email protected]. Hours are Monday to Friday 09h–21h and Saturday to Sunday 09h–15h, with the time zone not stated.

On complaints: I found none. A dedicated search for Bipa complaints on Reclame Aqui and Trustpilot returned no pages about Bipa. I also found no dated events in the news. That is genuinely a good sign, and it is also a young company with a short record — absence of complaints is weaker evidence when there is little history to complain about. The company claims a 4.8 rating from 26,000+ reviews, which is marketing and unverified.

What to take instead

If Bipa’s main appeal is spending crypto on a card with cashback, here is how the field compares. Scores are mine on the same scale.

The pattern is clear and worth stating plainly. If you are in Brazil, Bipa is one of the few cards that lists Brazil as an eligible jurisdiction — ether.fi does too — and it is the only one of the four that is Brazilian, priced in reais, and built around Pix and a Brazilian bank issuer. If you are in Europe or the UK, Nexo’s eligibility wording is clearer than Xplace’s and its fee structure is more transparent on FX, but its rewards require holding more than $5,000 in digital assets. Xplace has the most fully stated fee ladder of the four, which is unusual and useful. ether.fi’s cashback rates are the highest on paper, but its tier system and jurisdiction list make it a different proposition.

Two caveats on this table. Nexo’s card currency is not stated, and neither is Xplace’s or ether.fi’s — the currencies in their ATM and purchase examples are the giveaway, not a published fact. And one Nexo item is unofficial: Cointelegraph reported a 2025-era Bulgarian police raid on Nexo’s Sofia office over alleged Russia-sanctions and AML violations, with no official Nexo statement on it. I mention it only because “is this company safe” is a legitimate question, and unofficial reporting is what exists.

Who I would recommend it to

I would recommend Bipa to someone in Brazil who has already decided they want a crypto-linked card, who pays mostly in reais at home, who will use the prepaid side rather than lean on the credit line, and who wants Bitcoin cashback on everyday spending. For that person it is a good product with a generous rewards table and genuinely excellent top-up options.

I would not recommend it to a non-resident, to someone who travels frequently and needs predictable foreign-exchange costs, or to someone who wants a card with published, complete fee tables and ATM limits. Those are not the card’s weaknesses by accident; they are just not published.

And the thing I would check first, before anything else on this page: find out whether you are eligible. The card’s public pages do not say, and every other consideration is downstream of that. If you are Brazilian, go and install the app. If you are not, the rest of this review is background reading for a card you cannot get.

Frequently asked questions

What is Bipa?

Bipa is a Brazilian crypto company, founded in 2020 as Bipa Intermediação de Ativos Digitais LTDA, that describes itself as both a payment institution and a virtual asset service provider, regulated by the Central Bank of Brazil as a company claim. It issues a Mastercard in three tiers — Gold, Platinum and Black — available prepaid or as credit, virtual or physical, in Brazilian reais. The card is backed by Stark Bank S.A. Instituicao de Pagamento as issuer.

Is Bipa a bank?

No, and this distinction matters. Bipa describes itself as a payment institution and a virtual asset service provider, regulated by the Central Bank of Brazil as a company claim. The card itself is issued by Stark Bank S.A. Instituicao de Pagamento. In simple terms, Bipa is the app and brand you interact with; Stark Bank is the institution whose licence the card programme runs on. That is why card issuance, use, guarantee and disputes are governed exclusively by the Card Terms.

Who is eligible for a Bipa card?

The card’s public pages do not state the eligibility conditions. What is stated is that Bipa is Brazilian, that the plans are priced in reais, and that the credit side uses Brazilian risk criteria. If you are outside Brazil, treat the card as unavailable until the company says otherwise. The credit limit, separately, depends on a prior analysis and on reais you leave as collateral.

How do I get the Bipa card and activate it?

You sign up in the app, send a selfie and an identity document, and Bipa or Stark Bank may verify your data again at any time. You must be an adult individual; false information can lead to suspension and card cancellation. A virtual card exists in the app. Physical delivery is free on the Pro and Max plans and charged on Free and Plus, with the time “per the periods informed by the support channels” — so ask support rather than expect a published figure.

What does the Bipa card cost per month?

The plan fee is R$0 on Free, R$14.90 on Plus, R$49.90 on Pro and R$99.90 on Max, and it is waived by usage. The physical card is free on Pro and Max and costs something on Free and Plus, with the amount not stated. There is no plan cancellation fee and no card cancellation fee — but cancelling the card does not cancel the plan, so do both. Conversion, foreign exchange and ATM fees sit in a price table I could not read.

How do I top up the Bipa card?

Pix works natively, which is the natural route in Brazil. You can also deposit Bitcoin on-chain or over Lightning, USDT via Ethereum (ERC-20) or Polygon only, and USDC, SOL, XRP and ETH. Solana is not accepted for USDT, which is the single most common mistake here. The Cofrinho feature has a R$50 minimum. Deposit fees are not stated, and on-chain transfers cost network gas regardless of what Bipa charges.

Is Bipa card safe, and has anyone complained?

I found no Reclame Aqui or Trustpilot pages about Bipa, and no dated negative events. That is a real positive, tempered by the company’s short record since 2020. The issuer is named — Stark Bank S.A. Instituicao de Pagamento — and the plans are offered with BIPA Instituicao de Pagamento Ltda. Bipa says it and Stark Bank never ask for passwords, and Bipa only answers for third-party misuse after you have requested the block.

Can I add the Bipa card to Apple Pay or Google Pay?

The card “may be enabled in digital wallets according to eligibility”, and that is the full extent of it. Apple Pay and Google Pay are not named anywhere I read. So if phone taps are the reason you want this card, install it and check in the app rather than assuming. Note also that some transactions the processor classifies as MoneySend are blocked, with no published list of blocked merchant categories.

What happens if a Bipa payment goes wrong or is fraudulent?

Report an unrecognised transaction within 5 days. Stark Bank does a preliminary analysis and then a final one “within the period defined by Stark Bank” — no day count is published — and Bipa does not assume responsibility for the outcome. There is a 7-day right of withdrawal for online purchases. One detail that will irritate people: a successful chargeback reverses the Satsback you were credited for that purchase. Bipa answers for third-party misuse only after the block is requested.

Is Bipa worth it?

For a Brazilian resident spending mainly in reais who wants Bitcoin cashback on everyday purchases, the rewards table is the argument: Satsback of 0% to 1.5% on purchases plus 75% to 115% of CDI on collateral, depending on plan, against R$0 to R$99.90 a month. What holds it back is disclosure — eligibility, FX, ATM fees and limits are all unstated on the public pages. Decide with those gaps in mind, not around them.

Content created by the «cryptocardpedia.com» team