The card that spends your stablecoin balance, and nothing more

Updated October 2026

Licensed

Available in US

Fast payouts

18+ Only

The ARQ card is a Mastercard that draws on the balance sitting in your ARQ account rather than on a bank account, which is why people who cannot get a normal card end up looking at it. The card’s own pages describe it as a “secured credit card backed by the balance in your ARQ account”, and that single sentence explains almost everything about how it behaves in daily use. You load money into ARQ, the money turns into USDc (a digital dollar) or EURc, and the card spends exactly that. No overdraft, no credit line, no second balance to keep an eye on.

That is a genuinely useful thing for the people the card is actually built for: residents of Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and Brazil who hold digital dollars and want to spend them at shops, online and at cash machines. The reasons to like it are practical rather than promotional. The virtual card is free, the physical one costs $4.99 USD to ship with no monthly or annual fee, it works in Apple Pay and Google Pay, and it scores 9 out of 10 on everyday use. The reasons to hesitate are equally concrete. You cannot load the card directly — the money goes to the account by bank transfer — the page does not say which coins or networks are involved, and the service is the renamed DolarApp, whose older Trustpilot page sits at 2.0 out of 5 from 128 reviews.

My score for the card as a whole is 5.4 out of 10. That is not a verdict on whether spending your crypto like this works at all; it is a verdict on how much of the surrounding information you get for free, and here the answer is patchy. Read the whole page before you decide, because the good news and the bad news are concentrated in different places.

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

Who will give you the card

Four countries, and that is the whole list: Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and Brazil. The app’s country selector offers those four, and the physical card can be sent “anywhere within Argentina, Colombia, Mexico or Brazil” to a valid address in that country. If you live anywhere else, the virtual card is not something the company is advertising to you, and the physical card is out of the question.

That narrowness is the single biggest reason for the 3 out of 10 here. It is not a criticism of the card’s quality — a card that works well in four countries and stays silent about the rest is a legitimate product. It is a statement about how small the addressable base is. For a reader in, say, Nigeria, Kenya or the Philippines, this review has almost nothing to offer you, and no amount of persistence in the signup flow will change that. The country list is the first thing to check; it costs you nothing and it answers the question before you download anything.

How to get it

The signup path is short and entirely inside the app. Download it, log in, then go to the home screen banner for the card and request either the free virtual card or the physical one. Identity verification has to be completed in the app, and the card cannot be created at all while that verification is still pending or incomplete. So the practical order is: download, verify, then request.

What the card’s public pages do not say is just as important as the flow. The specific documents you need are not stated. Whether you must supply proof of address is not stated. The age requirement is not stated. Verification tiers — that is, whether there are levels and what unlocks at each one — are not stated either, though the general pattern in this category is that prepaid and debit cards go to adults aged 18 or over, sometimes with higher limits at higher tiers. The reasons an application can be refused are also not stated. What is stated is that an account review can temporarily block card creation, so a delay is possible and does not necessarily mean the answer is no.

Delivery, if you want the physical card: two to 15 business days, though another article on the same site says seven to ten. Shipping is $4.99 USD, paid once. The cost of a replacement card is not stated.

What it really costs, including the fees

The headline numbers are good. The virtual card is free. The physical card costs $4.99 USD to ship, with no maintenance fee and no annual fee. The card’s pages say it has “no hidden fees”. ATM withdrawals carry an ARQ fee of 1% of the amount withdrawn. And that first physical card is free if you hold more than $100 USD in Main Balance or are a Premium user.

The catch is the exchange rate, and this is where you have to read carefully rather than skim. A separate FX fee or spread is not disclosed. What you are told instead is the mechanism: a buy rate applies when you add money, and a sell rate applies when you pay by card, and both are shown in the app before you confirm. So the cost of spending is inside that displayed rate rather than in a line item on a fee schedule. If you travel and pay in a currency other than the dollar, the payment is converted at the sell rate — the same rate, applied to a different pair of currencies, which is how a card can feel cheap at home and expensive abroad. This is the item I would test myself with a small payment before committing, because it is the one number the company does not put a figure on.

ATM fees need one extra sentence of context. Cash machines work with the physical card worldwide, but cards issued in Argentina are not allowed at international cash machines. The ARQ fee is 1% of the withdrawn amount, and Premium users get up to 500 USDc per month free of that ARQ commission. The machine’s owner may charge extra on top, and that extra is theirs, not ARQ’s.

How to top it up

You cannot load the card directly. That is the sentence to internalise before you plan around this card, because it changes the shape of everything you do with it. Money goes to your ARQ account using the banking details shown in the app’s “Add” section — a bank transfer — and the account balance in USDc or EURc is what backs the card. The card then spends from that balance. Fees for the deposit are not stated, and neither are minimums. Which coins and networks are involved, if any, is not stated either.

So the sequence is always: transfer money by bank details, receive it as a balance, spend the balance. If you were hoping to send crypto straight to the card and start paying within a minute, that is not what this product does. The company does not say you can; the company’s own descriptions say you cannot.

Withdrawing works the same way in reverse, and this matters for the exit. Funds cannot be sent to other cards. They have to go to a bank account. Fees for that are not stated, and neither is what happens to any balance left when you close the account. That last gap is one I would want answered in writing before I ever put money in, and I would want it answered the same way from any card in this category.

Paying with it every day

This is where the card earns its best mark, 9 out of 10, and it earns it fairly. Both the virtual and the physical card are Mastercard, which means the acceptance is ordinary rather than exotic. Apple Pay is supported — home screen, then “Add to Apple Wallet” — and Google Pay is supported according to the card overview, with the virtual card able to be added to either wallet. A virtual card in your phone is the fast way to start spending, since it exists the moment your balance does and needs no delivery.

The mechanics are prepaid-style, not credit-style. Your spending limit equals your USDc balance, so a 100 USDc balance is a 100 USDc limit, and the card cannot overdraw. Payments in any currency are converted at the sell rate. This is the standard model for crypto cards: the card number carries an issuer identification number at the front that tells the merchant which institution and country issued it, and some shops apply extra scrutiny when that country differs from the billing address. That is not an ARQ problem in particular — it is what happens to any card issued in one country and used in another — but it is the kind of thing that surprises people the first few times.

Cashback is where the information runs out. No reward programme is described on the official card pages. The sign-up form says reward details are sent by email, which tells you there is something to find and nothing about what it is. I would not plan a budget around it.

The app itself is well rated on Apple’s store: “ARQ: Global Finance” at 4.5 out of 5 from 992 ratings, iPhone, iOS 17.0 or later. The Google Play rating was not obtained; the official page cites 4.7 and 4.5 app ratings without a date, so treat those as the company’s own figures rather than a measured one.

Disputes are worth knowing about before you need them. A Mastercard chargeback investigation can take up to 120 days. Opening a chargeback does not guarantee a refund. You can follow the status in the Help Center or in the app, with notification and email. In the United States, prepaid-card coverage is not something you should assume; rights that apply to debit and credit cards come from different rules, and a card that spends a stablecoin balance sits in the space where assumptions go wrong.

What can go wrong

The complaints are worth reading closely, because they are specific rather than vague. On Trustpilot, ARQ Finance sits at 3.9 out of 5 from 6 reviews — six is a very small sample and one bad week moves that number a lot. The older DolarApp page sits at 2.0 out of 5 from 128 reviews. The recurring themes in user reports from 2025 to 2026 are an account frozen or blocked with funds held, an unrecognised charge on a virtual card, and slow support. One 1-star review dated 14 September 2026 reports an unrecognised charge on a virtual card and no support solution. On the app stores and Trustpilot, blocked accounts and slow support come up repeatedly in the same period. No official incidents were found.

Read those as user reports, which is what they are — but notice what they have in common. They are not about the exchange rate or the card failing to work at a till. They are about the account being stopped and the money inside it not moving. That is a different risk, and it is the one that belongs in the “should I do this” part of your thinking rather than the “which card” part.

The company structure is where my discomfort is highest. ARQ is the former DolarApp, with copyright DolarApp Inc., a rebrand reported by Brazilian press in 2025 to 2026. Services run through DolarApp México S.A. de C.V. and DAPP Colombia S.A.S. (NIT 901644165-9), and the Mexico help page says credit card services are provided by Pier 5 S.A. de C.V. The licences are not stated. No licence or fine events were found, which is neutral rather than reassuring — no record is not the same as a licence.

This is not a rare shape in the industry, and knowing that helps. A card is a payment service regulated separately from the crypto side, so a product like this often sits on two licences: one for the crypto activity and one for issuing the card. When a public page names the entities but not the licences, you are being asked to do the lookup yourself, and the place to start is the regulator’s register for the country the entity belongs to. In the European Union, ESMA keeps an interim register of authorised crypto-asset service providers, white papers and non-compliant entities, and users are meant to check it. No licence or fine events were found for ARQ, and no equivalent register result is reported here.

Security features on the app side are the standard modern set: two-factor authentication for the app, an instant freeze, 3-D Secure, PIN viewing, and the ability to block and unblock. What is not stated is the custody model itself — who holds the balance, and whether customer funds are safeguarded. That is the question to press on, because safeguarded funds in a segregated account are a materially different promise from funds held on a balance sheet. When you convert to a stablecoin balance and the card spends from it, the balance sits with a provider, and the provider’s solvency and internal controls are part of what you are trusting.

Finally, an exit detail that fits the section above and is easy to skip: money can only leave to a bank account, and the fee and the closing-balance treatment are not stated.

What to take instead

Three alternatives come up when people compare cards in this category, and each solves a different problem. None of them is a straight replacement for ARQ, and the honest comparison depends on which of ARQ’s limitations is the one that actually bothers you.

If you want the clearest cost picture, look at Whop Cards. It scores closest to ARQ, its page says “No extra fees”, and it spends from a Whop balance. The catch is geography in the opposite direction: it is built for 31 US states for consumers and 41 states for businesses, and its terms list unsupported consumer countries including Belarus, China (Mainland), Cuba, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Myanmar, Nepal, Nicaragua, North Korea, Russia, Syria, Turkey, Ukraine, Venezuela and Vietnam. The basis of eligibility — citizenship or residence — is not stated. For someone in Latin America it is likely a dead end, but for someone in the United States it is the card with the least ambiguity about pricing. Its Visa card works anywhere Visa is accepted, online and in stores. Virtual or physical type and the card currency are not stated, though cards can also be issued to team members. The balance can be backed by stablecoin collateral from a linked wallet, with coins and networks not stated, and a pending balance is usable as soon as a payment arrives while standard withdrawals use settled funds. It offers 5% cashback at select merchants, currently Uber, with more planned; the payout currency and conditions are not stated.

If you want a card that charges less attention than ARQ does, look at Stella — but read its terms first. It scores 6.5 out of 10, the highest of the four. It is virtual and physical Visa, said to work at “over 40 million VISA merchants globally”. Its own site does not state which countries it serves, which is a large gap in a card whose price and eligibility both depend on that. The terms bar users under economic sanctions programmes and route US and European users through affiliates. Fees are “described under this User Agreement and/or on the App” — not on the card page. You deposit crypto into the account and it automatically tops up the card, through an in-app custodial wallet, which is a cleaner top-up story than ARQ’s bank-transfer-only route but means your funds sit with a custodian. No cashback is stated on the official card page; its Earn product is a separate yield.

If you want to be paid rather than to spend, look at UniFi Card. It scores 4.7 out of 10 and is a prepaid debit Visa card issued by Lead Bank, with Apple Pay support and a USD balance. Where you can use it is not confirmed from official pages; its App Store listing mentions send-money routes to the Philippines in PHP, Mexico in MXN and the eurozone in EUR, and recent release notes mention Colombia, Brazil (PIX) and the UK (GBP). Money arrives by ACH, wire, SEPA (IBAN) or SPEI (CLABE), or into a USDC wallet, with coins and networks beyond USDC not stated. Costs are not stated beyond “Fees may apply.” The listing claims “3% rewards on balances” while card cashback is not stated — two different things, and the one you would actually want is the one not described.

Set against the general picture, the honest summary is this. In the EU, a card is regulated as a payment service and the crypto side as a crypto-asset service, so two licences often sit behind one product; EMIs must safeguard customer funds in dedicated accounts or by insurance, and those funds are not bank deposits and may not carry a deposit guarantee. Visa and Mastercard do not issue crypto cards to consumers themselves — they license issuers, and they can suspend a programme. That has happened: Visa terminated its global agreements with FTX in November 2022 and the FTX US debit card was wound down; WaveCrest, a Visa issuer that supplied crypto card brands, was suspended by Visa in Europe in 2018, closing all WaveCrest-issued Visa programmes. The general shape of a closure is a notice period, then spending and loading stop, then users are asked to withdraw remaining balances — one 2026 closure reported by a secondary source had new loads end on 8 July 2026 and spending stop on 8 August 2026, from a single unconfirmed source. Reading ARQ’s thin disclosure against that history is not pessimism. It is the reason to prefer a card that tells you who holds your money.

Who I would recommend it to

I would recommend the ARQ card to residents of Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and Brazil who already hold digital dollars or receive money into an ARQ account, and who want a Mastercard for everyday spending and cash withdrawals without setting up a second banking relationship. The free virtual card, the $4.99 physical card with no ongoing fees, Apple Pay and Google Pay, and a spending limit capped at your balance make it a low-risk way to try. If your income arrives as USDc or into an account you can bank-transfer from, the top-up route is simply the bank details in the app, and that is a low bar.

I would not recommend it to anyone in a fifth country, because the physical card does not travel and the virtual one is not being offered to you. I would hold off if the sell rate matters to you and you cannot test it yourself, because the FX fee is not disclosed and only the in-app rate tells you the number. I would hold off if you plan to hold a large balance for a long time, because the custody model and the safeguarding arrangements are not stated on the public pages, and the complaint pattern includes frozen accounts with funds held. And I would choose a different card if you are in the United States, where Whop’s pricing is stated more plainly, or if you can accept a custodial wallet in exchange for a simpler top-up, where Stella’s model fits better — after reading its terms.

One last thing that is not a card feature and still belongs here. If you are spending a crypto balance through any card, including this one, the tax position is real and personal. Digital assets are generally treated as property, so exchanging them for goods, services or dollars generally produces a gain or a loss; for personal holdings the result is a capital gain or loss, short-term if held a year or less, measured in your local currency at the fair market value on the date of the transaction. That can mean each card payment is a separate disposal. I am not able to advise you on your own position, but I can say plainly that a card spending a crypto balance does not remove the question — it only makes it quieter.

Frequently asked questions

What is the ARQ card?

The ARQ card is a Mastercard, available as a free virtual card or a physical one for $4.99 USD shipping, that spends the balance in your ARQ account. The card’s pages describe it as a “secured credit card backed by the balance in your ARQ account”, with the balance held in USDc, a digital dollar. It is the renamed DolarApp, with copyright DolarApp Inc. and services through DolarApp México S.A. de C.V. and DAPP Colombia S.A.S.

How does the ARQ card work in practice?

You put money into your ARQ account, it becomes a USDc or EURc balance, and the card spends that balance. Your spending limit equals the USDc balance, so a 100 USDc balance means a 100 USDc limit and the card cannot overdraw. Payments in any currency are converted at the sell rate. You can add the virtual card to Apple Pay or Google Pay and start spending without waiting for delivery.

Who can get an ARQ card?

Residents of Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and Brazil. The app’s country selector lists those four countries, and the physical card can be sent anywhere within Argentina, Colombia, Mexico or Brazil to a valid address in that country. Outside those four, the company is not advertising the card and the physical one cannot be shipped to you.

Is ARQ a bank, and is my money safe?

The public pages name the entities behind the service — DolarApp México S.A. de C.V., DAPP Colombia S.A.S. and Pier 5 S.A. de C.V. — but do not state the licences, and the custody model and safeguarding arrangements are not stated either. On the app side there is 2FA, an instant freeze, 3-D Secure, PIN viewing and block/unblock. What that does not answer is who holds your balance and how it is protected.

Does the ARQ card require KYC, and how do I apply?

Yes — identity verification must be completed in the app, and the card cannot be created while verification is pending or incomplete. The steps are: download the app, log in, tap the home screen card banner, and request the free virtual or physical card. The documents required, whether proof of address is needed, the age rule and the refusal reasons are not stated on the public pages.

How do I top up the ARQ card, and can I send crypto straight to it?

You cannot load the card directly. Money goes to your ARQ account using the banking details in the app’s “Add” section, and the resulting USDc or EURc balance backs the card. Which coins and networks are involved, if any, is not stated, as are the deposit fees and minimums. Money also cannot be sent to other cards — withdrawals have to go to a bank account.

What does the ARQ card cost to use?

The virtual card is free, and the physical card costs $4.99 USD to ship with no maintenance or annual fee. The first physical card is free if you hold over $100 USD in Main Balance or are a Premium user, though the Premium price is not stated. The ARQ ATM fee is 1% of the amount withdrawn, free up to 500 USDc per month for Premium users, and the machine’s owner may charge extra.

Where can I use the ARQ card, and can I add it to Apple Pay?

Both the virtual and the physical card are Mastercard, so acceptance is wherever Mastercard is taken, and cash machines work worldwide with the physical card — except that cards issued in Argentina cannot be used at international cash machines. Apple Pay is supported through the home screen’s “Add to Apple Wallet”, and Google Pay is supported according to the card overview.

Is the ARQ card worth it given the reviews?

The daily-use side scores well: virtual and physical Mastercard, both mobile wallets, no monthly fee and cash machines abroad. The thin side is disclosure — no FX fee published, only rates shown in the app, and coins and networks unstated. On Trustpilot, ARQ Finance is 3.9 out of 5 from 6 reviews and the older DolarApp page 2.0 out of 5 from 128, with reports of frozen accounts and slow support.

What happens if I want to close my ARQ account?

The public pages do not say. Funds cannot be sent to another card, so a withdrawal has to go to a bank account, and neither the withdrawal fee nor what happens to a remaining balance on closure is stated. That question is worth asking in writing through the in-app chat or complaints address before you deposit anything you would want back quickly.

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