SORA card is closed — what happened, what holders can still do, and what to take instead

Updated October 2026

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The SORA card programme stopped issuing cards and shut down its in-app card functions after 30 January 2026, 18:00 GMT. If you are reading this because you held a card, you are looking at a closed product, and the only route to your balance now runs through the card issuer, not the SORA app. This review walks through what changed, what current holders can still do, where the risks sit, and which cards in the same category are still open to new applicants.

The conditions and figures in this article are current as of October 28, 2026.

Verdict

The SORA card programme ends in a tied 2.2 out of 10, and the headline mark is dragged down almost entirely by closure: even on cost, where the published numbers were reasonable, the card now scores a 1 for reliability because the product itself is no longer operating. For a reader weighing whether to chase a remaining balance or pick a new card, that single number is the answer to the first question — you cannot get this card any more, so a scoreboard comparing it to live products only matters for what it tells you about the category.

The table below lists the criteria and the score breakdown for the SORA card.

For existing cardholders trying to withdraw a balance, the verdict is the same: the product that put points on the board — €0 issuance, a free monthly fee in year one, a clean physical-plus-virtual setup — has been shut down. The most useful part of this page is therefore not the score, it is the section on what happened and what holders can still do.

What happened to the SORA card programme

The closure came as a single published decision rather than a slow run-down. On 10 January 2026 SORA published a notice that the card, the app and the card functions would all stop on Friday 30 January 2026 at 18:00 GMT. From that point, the app no longer gives you access to balances. The card itself is issued by Unlimit EU Ltd, an electronic money institution in Cyprus licensed by the Central Bank of Cyprus under licence 115.1.3.7. SORA Biome, based in Bulgaria, runs the website and the apps; the card programme sits with the issuer.

A few things from the official pages matter for understanding what the card was and why it closed:

• Who it was for. While the programme was open, it was offered to residents of the European Economic Area, with KYC by residence rather than nationality. Russia, Iran and the DPRK were on the restricted list. The full list sat at the card’s /blacklist page. Now that the card is closed, the eligibility question is moot for new applicants.
• KYC. The card required a selfie, an ID document and proof of address, in line with EU customer due diligence rules. Levels, processing time and details of the proof-of-address check are not stated on the public pages.
• The product. It was a physical and digital debit card, with the network not stated on the public pages. The published tier was a single product with a free first year, then a €39 per year “client membership” charged after the first year. There was no other tier.
• Currencies and conversion. Direct conversion between XOR and EUR, with withdrawals in any currency other than the card currency treated as international. The card currency itself is not named on the pages. The international card payment fee was €0.90 + 1.1%.
• Mobile wallets. Apple Pay and Google Pay were promised for a “Phase 2” that never arrived. The card is closed before that stage.
• Rewards. Not stated on the public pages. There is no cashback or rebate programme on the record.
• The app. The iOS app was the “SORA” app on the App Store, and the Android app was published under the Soramitsu developer name on Google Play. The SORA Wallet itself continues as a separate product, but the card’s card-management functions inside that app ended on 30 January 2026.

The user-facing part of the closure, beyond the published notice, is that Unlimit (the issuer) had already suspended some accounts before the termination date, and the support page tells holders that even if their in-app balance is non-zero, the funds are not accessible until Unlimit completes a review. The only public route for getting a balance released is to email [email protected]; SORA states it cannot submit release requests on the user’s behalf.

A second operational point: anyone who held balances inside GateHub wallets that fed into the card had to withdraw those balances before the cutoff, because the card functions were the path to spend or move them through the SORA flow.

The bottom line is that the programme is no longer an option to apply to. The remaining questions are about closure, balances and alternatives.

If you already have a SORA card

The two things that matter here are: how to get your money out, and what kind of access you still have to support.

Getting a balance out. After 30 January 2026 18:00 GMT, the app no longer shows a working balance or lets you initiate a payout. The published route is the issuer’s support inbox, [email protected]. The page explicitly says SORA cannot submit release requests on your behalf, so do not expect the SORA support channels to be able to move funds for you. If Unlimit has previously suspended your account, your in-app balance may still appear as a number while the underlying funds are not actually accessible, and the only path is the Unlimit review. SEPA outgoing and SEPA Instant outgoing on a working account had been priced at €0.50 each, but that route is no longer in the app after the cutoff.

ATM access. While the card was live, domestic ATM withdrawals inside the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway were charged at €1.20 + 3%, international at €1.75 + 3%, with the first balance inquiry of the month free. The card is closed, so these fees are now academic — but they are the last published reference if a holder is in a transitional period.

Funding the card. While it was operating, the only ways to load the card were converting XOR to EUR or sending a SEPA transfer. There was no direct crypto load: the card was effectively a prepaid EUR balance fed by either of those two routes. The minimum top-up amount and the spread on the XOR/EUR conversion are not stated on the public pages.

Limits and disputes. The card page refers to limits at soracard.com/fees#4 but the amounts are not present on the public pages — they were never published in a way I can quote with confidence. Replacement-card cost, closure fees and dispute procedures are also not stated. If you need any of these in writing, the issuer is the right address, not SORA.

Support. The published support routes are soracard.com/support, soracard.com/contact and [email protected], plus Discord, Telegram, X and Reddit. The site is in English and Spanish; Russian is not offered. Support hours are not stated. For balance release specifically, none of these are the route — only [email protected] is.

The practical checklist for a holder looks like this:

• Move any balance still sitting in the linked GateHub flow if you have not already done so.
• Email [email protected] for any residual balance that the app no longer releases. SORA support cannot submit the request for you.
• Keep the card’s last four digits, your KYC reference and any screenshots of the in-app balance to attach to the request.
• If your account was already suspended, expect the review to take time and assume the in-app number is not yet spendable.

What can go wrong

The risks that show up around the SORA card are the kind that sit between a cardholder and a card issuer when a programme is being wound down. They are not unique to SORA, but they are sharper here because the card is closed and there is no Plan B inside the SORA app.

• Account suspension by the issuer. Unlimit EU Ltd is the issuer, and it suspended some SORA cardholder accounts before the formal termination date. A suspended account can show a balance that is, in practice, frozen. The only published release route is the Unlimit support inbox.
• SORA cannot act for you. The published wording is that SORA cannot submit release requests for users. That is not a tone choice — it is a structural point. SORA Biome runs the programme’s front end; Unlimit holds the regulatory relationship with the cardholder’s funds. A holder who writes only to SORA support is likely to be told to write to Unlimit.
• In-app balance ≠ spendable balance. Even before the closure date, an in-app figure was not a guaranteed spendable figure. The Unlimit review sits between the two.
• GateHub cutoff. If your crypto was sitting in a GateHub wallet that fed the SORA flow, the funds had to be moved before 30 January 2026 18:00 GMT. Anything left after that is not addressed by the published support route.
• Unclear limits, fees and dispute rules. The public page points to a limits page (soracard.com/fees#4) that does not actually list the numbers. Closure fees, replacement cost and dispute procedures are not stated. If you are negotiating a release with Unlimit, you will not find the answer to “what does this cost me” on the SORA site.
• EMI status of the issuer. Unlimit EU Ltd is an electronic money institution, not a bank. EMI funds are safeguarded, but they are not covered by deposit insurance. If the issuer failed, the protection regime is different from a Cypriot bank deposit.
• The crypto side, separately. SORA Wallet itself continues and is self-custodial — you hold your own keys. That keeps the risk of custodial loss off the table for wallet funds, but it puts the responsibility for key safety on the user. A seed phrase leak means total loss with no on-chain recovery.
• No promised Apple Pay or Google Pay. The “Phase 2” tokens for Apple Pay and Google Pay did not arrive before closure, so any assumption that you could load the card onto a phone wallet and use it that way does not hold.

None of these are reasons to blame SORA specifically; they are the shape of a programme being closed, and they are the same shape that the FTX US debit card, the WaveCrest-issued Visa programmes in 2018, and similar closures have had. The point for a reader is that the risks now sit in a different place: not in the cost structure, but in the gap between a closed programme and a still-operating issuer.

What to take instead

The SORA card is no longer open, so the question is no longer “should I take this one over another?” It is “which of the live crypto cards gives me what SORA was supposed to give me?” The three alternatives below are the ones with the closest fit, with their own scores and their own caveats. Each is open to new applicants in the countries its public page lists, which is the meaningful difference from SORA.

BloFin Wallet Card — 6.9 / 10

BloFin is positioned as a multi-currency Visa Platinum card with a published fee ladder and no activation, annual, issuance or dormancy fees. The spend fee is set by VIP tier: VIP 0 pays 1.00%, VIP 1 0.90%, VIP 2 0.80%, VIP 3 0.50%, VIP 4 0.20%, VIP 5 0.00%, charged at the moment of payment. The card is topped up with USDT and USDC on Arbitrum and Base. There is no cashback or rebate; the lower spend fee is the equivalent.

• Where it is available. A country list is not published on the card page. The sign-up flow asks you to “select your country or region” inside the app, and the starting data lists 35 countries, including the US, Australia, Japan, the UAE, Brazil, Mexico, Malaysia and New Zealand. Citizenship vs residence is not stated.
• Card form. BloFin Wallet Visa Platinum card, network Visa. Whether virtual or physical is supplied is not stated on the public pages, and the card currency is not named.
• Fees in detail. $0.00 for activation, annual, issuance, dormancy, and cancellation. FX fee is not stated.
• Funding. USDT or USDC on Arbitrum or Base, converted to a fiat balance on the card. There is no direct debit or SEPA-style top-up listed on the public page.

BloFin improves on the SORA card by offering an open application process, transparent fee tiers, and a straightforward top-up path using stablecoin networks. It lacks a publicly listed country eligibility page and does not offer cashback.

Decaf — 6.2 / 10

Decaf is a Visa card available as a virtual card worldwide or a physical card in the US and a more expensive physical card for the rest of the world. The headline is that Decaf adds no FX markup of its own — the rate is the one Visa provides — and the app runs on Solana and Stellar.

• Where it is available. Not issued in Belarus, China, North Korea (DPRK), India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Syria, Turkey, Cuba, Ukraine, Venezuela, Vietnam, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico or Nigeria. Restricted US states are Arizona, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Maryland, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington and Wisconsin. Russia and Belarus are both on the restricted list, but whether the rule is by citizenship or by residence is not stated.
• Card form. Decaf Visa card, virtual or physical, with tracked delivery for the physical card. Card currency is not stated.
• Fees in detail. Activation is $5 for a virtual card worldwide, $10 for a physical card in the US, and $90 for a physical card for the rest of the world. There is no annual or monthly fee. FX is the Visa rate; Decaf’s own fee is zero on that. The crypto conversion fee is not stated.
• Funding. Clients can pay a Decaf payment link or account details by card, bank transfer or USDC. The sample balance on the page is in USDC. The app runs on Solana and Stellar, but the page does not state which coins and networks top up the card itself.

Compared to the SORA card, Decaf provides a clear eligibility list, flexible virtual card options, and transparent FX pricing based on Visa’s direct rates. However, it does not disclose its crypto conversion fees and offers no cashback rewards.

SafePal — 6.2 / 10

SafePal is a virtual Mastercard debit with a Swiss Fiat24 account underneath it. Spending limits are quoted in EUR, the FX markup is 1% on Mastercard non-USD settlement, and the standard top-up fee is published as 0%.

• Where it is available. “Citizens of supported regions who live in supported areas”, with the list at /en/bank/regions reported as empty when fetched. Citizenship vs residence is not stated explicitly; the wording is the closest the public page gets to a rule.
• Card form. Virtual Mastercard debit. A physical card is not stated as offered.
• Fees in detail. No account creation or management fees. The card issuance fee is not stated. Standard top-up fee 0%, Mastercard non-USD settlement 1% FX fee, refund processing 1 USD/EUR/CHF/7 CNH. Swaps include a spread that is not quantified; the bank page elsewhere says crypto top-up “as low as 0.4%” on the top tier.
• Funding. Crypto from more than 40 blockchains, converted to USDC by default or to fiat. Transactions run on Arbitrum.
• Rewards. No cashback. Referral commissions are advertised at up to 40% of referred top-up fees, and tier privileges are tied to deposits, referrals and SFP staking.

SafePal stands out with a 0% top-up fee and wide funding compatibility across 40+ blockchains, unlike the SORA card’s limited options. It does not publish a full country list or issuance fees, and it provides no cashback.

How the four cards compare

The SORA row is in this table for context, not as an option. If you are choosing today, your real comparison is BloFin, Decaf and SafePal, and the trade-off between them is mostly geographic: BloFin and SafePal are light on published country lists, Decaf is open about a long restricted list, and the crypto funding paths differ by which networks and stablecoins you actually hold.

Who I would recommend this to

The honest answer is: I would not recommend the SORA card to anyone looking to apply, because no one can apply for it any more. The product is closed.

For someone who is reading this because they held a SORA card and want to know what to do next, my recommendation is narrower and more specific. Move the linked crypto out of the SORA app and any GateHub wallet if you have not already. Treat the in-app balance as informative but not spendable, especially if you were on a suspended account. Use [email protected] as the only address for releasing a balance, and attach the card’s last four digits, your KYC reference and screenshots of the in-app balance. If your account is in normal status and the closure date is still recent, give Unlimit a reasonable window before assuming the worst. If you are not getting a reply, the SORA support channels are useful only for asking them to clarify the status, not for moving the money.

For someone looking to replace the card, my recommendation depends on what you actually used SORA for:

• If you wanted a low-fee Visa with a clean published fee ladder and you already hold USDT or USDC, BloFin is the closest fit. Watch for the country list inside the app, since it is not published up front.
• If you want a published restricted-country list and a pass-through FX rate, Decaf is the more transparent of the three on eligibility.
• If you hold a mix of cryptocurrencies across many chains and want a Mastercard with 0% top-up, SafePal is the broadest in funding, with the trade-off that the country list is not published.

The shared point across the three is that none of them offer cashback or a rebate on the record. The category is moving toward lower spread and lower explicit fees rather than toward rewards, and that is the context in which a former SORA user is now shopping.

Frequently asked questions

What is the SORA card?

The SORA card was a physical and digital debit card that converted XOR to EUR and let cardholders spend the resulting balance at merchants and ATMs. The card was issued by Unlimit EU Ltd in Cyprus and managed by SORA Biome in Bulgaria. The programme is now closed.

How does the SORA card work?

While it was open, you converted XOR to EUR inside the SORA app or sent a SEPA transfer, and the resulting EUR balance was loaded onto a virtual and physical card. There was no direct crypto load — the card behaved like a prepaid EUR balance fed by either of those two routes.

Is SORA a bank?

No. SORA Biome is a software company, not a bank. The card was issued by Unlimit EU Ltd, which is an electronic money institution licensed by the Central Bank of Cyprus under licence 115.1.3.7. EMI funds are not covered by deposit insurance.

Who owns SORA?

SORA Wallet and the card programme sit with SORA Biome, based in Bulgaria. The card itself was issued by Unlimit EU Ltd in Cyprus. SORA Wallet and the SORA card are not the same product: the wallet continues, the card is closed.

Is the SORA card available in my country?

The programme is closed, so it is not available in any country. While it was open, it was offered to EEA residents, with residents of Russia, Iran and the DPRK on the restricted list. A full list sat at the card’s /blacklist page.

Can I use a SORA card in my country?

After 30 January 2026 18:00 GMT, no. Card and app functions ended at that point, and the only route to a remaining balance is the issuer’s support inbox, not a working card.

How do I get a SORA card?

You cannot. New cards are not being issued. The closure notice was published on 10 January 2026, with the end date of 30 January 2026.

Does the SORA card require KYC?

Yes. While the programme was open, KYC required a selfie, an ID document and proof of address. Levels, processing time and the proof-of-address detail are not stated on the public pages.

How do I top up a SORA card?

The card is closed, so this is academic for a new applicant. While it was open, the only funding routes were converting XOR to EUR or sending a SEPA transfer. There was no direct crypto load, and the minimum top-up and conversion spread are not stated.

How do I withdraw money from SORA?

After 30 January 2026 18:00 GMT, the only published route is to email [email protected] for any residual balance. SORA support cannot submit release requests on a user’s behalf. If your account was previously suspended by Unlimit, the in-app balance figure is not yet spendable.

Is the SORA card free?

The first card was free and the monthly fee was €0. A “client membership” of €39 per year was charged after the first year. International card payments were €0.90 + 1.1%, and domestic ATM withdrawals were €1.20 + 3%. These are the last published figures; the programme is now closed.

How do I add the SORA card to Apple Wallet?

You cannot. Apple Pay and Google Pay were promised for a “Phase 2” of the programme that did not arrive before closure.

Is the SORA card safe?

The card was an EMI-issued prepaid card, not a bank product, and EMI funds are not covered by deposit insurance. The SORA Wallet side is self-custodial, so the user holds the keys and the responsibility for key safety. The closure introduces a separate risk: an Unlimit review can keep a balance inaccessible for an extended period.

How do I delete my SORA account?

The published routes are the support pages at soracard.com/support and soracard.com/contact, plus [email protected]. The process and timeline are not stated on the public pages.

Is the SORA card worth it?

It is no longer an option to apply for. For a former holder, the question is whether to wait for an Unlimit review on a balance or to move on. For a new applicant, the comparison is between BloFin, Decaf and SafePal rather than against SORA.

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