A prepaid AUD Mastercard that pulls from your crypto, but only if you live in Australia

Updated October 2026

Licensed

Available in US

Fast payouts

18+ Only

CoinJar’s card is a prepaid Mastercard that lets you spend the AUD value of a crypto balance you hold inside the CoinJar exchange. In practice, you pick a coin as your “Spend” account, the app converts it at CoinJar’s rate when you pay, and the merchant sees an ordinary Mastercard transaction in Australian dollars. It works with Apple Pay and Google Pay, the physical card is free, and there is no monthly fee. That is the short version.

The longer version is more guarded. The card is only available to people the platform can verify as Australian residents, the on-card fees are middling rather than low, the list of supported coins is not published on the card page, and the exchange behind the card carries a long tail of customer complaints about frozen transfers and slow support. The 1% purchase fee, which is “returned” as Rewards points you can spend later, is the single most cited drawback in third-party press.

If you live in Australia, already use CoinJar, and want a simple way to spend crypto in AUD at the till, the card does that job. If you are outside Australia, or you want a low-fee multi-currency crypto card, the alternatives section further down is the part of this page that matters most to you.

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

Verdict: 5.5 out of 10

The score reflects what the card is in 2026: a competent, free-to-issued prepaid Mastercard that is genuinely easy to use day to day, but is geographically narrow, costs more than the cheapest crypto cards on the market, and is tied to an exchange whose own reviews sit in the “mixed” zone.

It is worth your time if you are an Australian resident with a verified CoinJar account who wants a frictionless way to spend crypto at Australian merchants. It is not worth chasing if you are outside Australia, if you want a card you can fund in stablecoins on a network of your choice, or if you care about minimising per-transaction fees.

How the score breaks down

The audience this fits best is Australian residents paying with crypto in AUD; the audience it does not fit is anyone outside Australia, or anyone who wants a cheaper, more open crypto card.

Who CoinJar will give the card to

The card’s own marketing pages do not state eligibility or list countries. The information has to be pulled from the Australian Product Disclosure Statement (PDS), and the PDS is the binding document.

According to the PDS, the card is available to people who are 18 or older, are Australian residents, and hold a verified CoinJar account. The verification step is what does most of the work: CoinJar’s standard sign-up flow includes identity checks, and until those pass, no card can be issued. The PDS does not say which documents the platform asks for, how long verification takes, or what specific reasons lead to a rejection.

A few things follow from that:

• The card is not positioned as a global product. The published fees are in Australian dollars, the issuer (EML Payment Solutions Limited) is an Australian financial-services licensee, and the everyday account the card draws from is denominated in AUD.
• The card is for residents, not for tourists or short-stay visitors. If you are on a temporary visa and your CoinJar account was opened in Australia, the platform’s own onboarding rules still apply, but the PDS is framed around residency.
• You will not see a country selector or a “not available in your region” message. The gate is the verification step: if you cannot verify an Australian address, the card simply does not appear as an option.

For anyone outside Australia, the card is effectively a non-starter. Even if you could get a CoinJar account, the PDS does not contemplate non-Australian residents, and the issuer’s licence is Australian.

How to get the card

The signup process runs through the CoinJar app, not through a separate card website. The card is offered inside the app once your account is verified, and the same account funds it.

The signup has three moving parts, and only one of them is the card itself:

1. CoinJar account. You create an account on iOS, Android, or the web, and complete whatever identity verification the platform requires at your tier. The platform does not publish the tier thresholds, the documents it asks for, or the average processing time.
2. Card order. Once your account is verified, the app lets you order a free physical Mastercard and adds a digital card to your wallet. Both are prepaid. The card page does not say how long the physical card takes to arrive, and the replacement card is also free.
3. Funding source. Before the card can be used, you need a balance inside the CoinJar Everyday Account in AUD, funded by selling crypto you hold on the exchange. The card itself does not accept a direct on-chain deposit; it draws on the AUD value of your chosen “Spend” account.

There is no separate application form for the card. The “application” is the act of ordering the physical card inside an already-verified account. If your application is not approved, the PDS does not say why, because the platform does not publish rejection reasons.

Two practical notes:

• The digital card is available immediately and can be added to Apple Pay or Google Pay the moment the card is issued, which means you can start spending before the physical card arrives.
• The card is prepaid, not a credit card. The PDS describes a single tier: one prepaid Mastercard (digital plus free physical). There is no metal version, no premium tier, and no perks above the base.

What the CoinJar card really costs (Fees)

The fee structure is straightforward once you know which line items exist, but two of them — the “returned” 1% and the “2.99%+” foreign transaction fee — are easy to misread.

Three everyday situations show how those numbers land in practice.

Buying a 100 AUD coffee and sandwich in Sydney. You tap the physical card or pay with Apple Pay. The merchant is charged in AUD, so there is no foreign-transaction fee. The 1% purchase fee is taken, but in the form of 1 CoinJar Rewards point per dollar spent. You earn 100 points. The points offset future trades on the exchange or are redeemable in the Rewards Store. Whether that is “free” depends on whether you would have made a trade anyway; if you would, the 1% is genuinely refunded in the form of a fee credit. If you would not, the 1% is just a cost.

Buying a 200 EUR camera online from a European retailer. The merchant receives AUD through Mastercard’s currency conversion. On top of the network rate, CoinJar charges its 2.99% foreign exchange fee, and Mastercard’s own cross-border assessment may apply. The combined “real” cost of that 200 EUR purchase is the spread between CoinJar’s conversion rate and the mid-market rate, plus 2.99%, plus the standard 1% purchase fee. For someone used to a 0.5% crypto card, this is the expensive scenario.

Withdrawing 300 AUD from an ATM in Melbourne. You pay 1% (3 AUD) to CoinJar, plus whatever the ATM operator charges. The PDS does not state a free allowance. The minimum withdrawal is 20 AUD and the maximum is 1,000 AUD per transaction; the daily ATM cap is 1,000 AUD and counts towards the 5,000 AUD daily point-of-sale limit.

The single number to remember: this card is cheap for AUD-only spending inside Australia and noticeably more expensive for anything that crosses a currency border.

How to top up CoinJar (Top up)

The card has no balance of its own. It draws on the “Spendable Balance” of your CoinJar Everyday Account, in AUD, and that AUD balance is created by selling crypto on the exchange. In other words, top-up is two steps, and only the first one happens on-chain.

The flow looks like this in practice:

1. You deposit crypto into your CoinJar exchange account from an external wallet. The card page does not list which coins or which networks the platform accepts for deposit. A 2021 launch press release described “30 digital currencies” with a flat 1% conversion, but the current card page is silent on the coin list, so the present-day menu should be checked inside the app rather than assumed from older marketing.
2. Inside the app, you pick one of those holdings as your “Spend” account. The card auto-converts at CoinJar’s quoted rate when you pay.
3. When you pay at a merchant, the platform first sells the chosen crypto at its own rate, which includes CoinJar’s normal trading fee, and then settles the merchant in AUD.

A few consequences worth knowing:

• There is no card top-up fee stated on the card page, but the trading fee the platform charges when it sells your crypto for the purchase is separate, and is what most users will actually feel.
• Refunds are paid back into the CoinJar Everyday Account in AUD, not in the original crypto. If you paid in bitcoin, you do not get bitcoin back; you get the AUD equivalent of the refund.
• The card page does not state a minimum top-up, a maximum top-up, or how network fees on the deposit side are handled. On-chain network fees are charged by the blockchain, not by CoinJar, so the cost of getting crypto onto the platform is whatever the network charges.
• When the card is cancelled or revoked, the remaining value on the card is paid back into the CoinJar Everyday Account in AUD, once no pending authorisations remain and you instruct the platform. The card can be cancelled by the user at any time, and by the issuer with 14 days’ notice (or immediately for suspected misuse or false information).

If you prefer to fund a card directly with a stablecoin transfer on a network of your choice, this is not that product. The “top up” is really a “sell crypto inside CoinJar, then spend the AUD”.

Paying with the CoinJar card every day

In day-to-day use, the card behaves like a regular prepaid Mastercard, with mobile wallet support that is the main reason people pick it over a bank transfer.

Mobile wallets. Apple Pay and Google Pay are both supported. The card can be tokenised in either wallet, which means the actual card number is not stored on Apple’s or Google’s servers; a device-specific number takes its place, and each transaction uses a one-time dynamic security code. The card issuer can restrict where the tokenised number can be used (for example, block it on magstripe, in-app, or website payments) if it wants to.

In-store and online. For an Australian merchant, the experience is identical to any other Mastercard: tap, insert, swipe, or pay in a browser. For online payments, 3-D Secure may be challenged by the issuer depending on its risk assessment; the platform does not publish a list of merchants it declines or restricts. Contactless transactions under 100 AUD are mentioned in the PDS as a category.

Cash. The physical card can withdraw cash at any ATM that accepts Mastercard. The card cannot be used to deposit cash; it is a withdrawal-only instrument.

Blocked merchant categories. The card page does not list which merchant category codes (MCCs) are blocked. Many issuers block gambling (MCC 7995) by policy rather than by law, and the blocked list varies by issuer; if you are planning to use the card for a specific category of spend, the answer needs to come from CoinJar’s support, not from this page.

Rewards. Every 1 AUD spent earns 1 CoinJar Rewards point. Points offset the trading fee on future trades on the exchange, or they can be redeemed in the Rewards Store. This is how the 1% purchase fee is “returned”: you do not get cash back, you get a credit against future trading fees or store items.

The app. iOS and Android. Store ratings are not readable from the official listing, but third-party trackers report an App Store rating of 4.1/5 from 123 reviews and a Google Play rating of 3.91 from around 2,600 ratings, both searched in October 2026. Treat those as unofficial figures, not CoinJar-confirmed.

Disputes. Chargebacks follow Mastercard scheme rules. The PDS asks you to notify EML as soon as possible, with a general 90-day window from the transaction. Extra information must be provided within 10 days or the chargeback may be lost or reversed, and the unsuccessful-dispute fee of 27.50 AUD applies. If a complaint cannot be resolved within 5 days, the platform has 30 days; if it still cannot be resolved, the matter can be escalated to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA).

The everyday experience is the strongest part of the card. For a verified Australian user funding the card from a CoinJar AUD balance, the friction is low.

What can go wrong with the CoinJar card

Three categories of risk are worth separating, because they have different causes and different fixes.

Risks tied to the card itself. The PDS is the binding document, and the issuer (EML) carries the card programme. If the programme were ever wound down — and crypto card programmes have been wound down in the past, including the FTX US debit card in November 2022 and the WaveCrest-issued Visa programmes in 2018 — the notice, stop-spending, and balance-return process would follow the PDS. The 2021 PDS remains the most recent version, and the CoinJar blog as of February 2026 still describes the card, so there is no sign of an imminent closure.

Risks tied to CoinJar the exchange. This is the larger category. The platform is custodial, which means your crypto is held by CoinJar, and the card pulls from an account CoinJar controls. If the platform freezes an account, holds a transfer “under review” for AML reasons, or fails entirely, your ability to spend via the card stops with it. CoinJar’s own Trustpilot page (the exchange, not the card) sits at 3.3/5 from 2,549 reviews, with 17% one-star. The recurring themes from 2026 reviews are transfers and withdrawals held “under review” or under Travel Rule holds (a regulatory requirement to share sender and recipient information for crypto transfers above a threshold), identity re-checks and account freezes, and slow support. Only one review is card-specific, describing a virtual Mastercard “constantly having technical issues” (October 2026). CoinJar replies to 100% of negative reviews on Trustpilot, which is a sign of engagement but not a resolution.

Risks tied to the on-chain side. The card page does not list supported coins or networks, so there is room to send a deposit on a network the platform does not support, or to a deposit address of another network. Blockchain transfers are irreversible, and the funds can be lost or require manual support recovery with no guarantee. On-chain deposit fees are paid to the network, not to CoinJar.

A few smaller things worth knowing:

• The card is not anonymous. KYC is required at the exchange level, and sanctions screening applies to nationality and country of birth as well as to the address.
• Insurance or safeguarding of customer funds is not stated in the PDS. E-money institutions are typically required to segregate client funds, but prepaid-card coverage should not be assumed equivalent to bank-deposit protection.
• Security features in the app include hold/unblock the card, change PIN, view history, and tokenisation in Apple/Google Pay. There is no mention of insurance against unauthorised transactions in the materials reviewed.
• Customer support runs through [email protected], the help center at support.coinjar.com, and the issuer at [email protected]. A complaints address is also listed: [email protected].

If the question is “is the card safe to use”, the honest answer is that the card itself is a standard prepaid Mastercard from a regulated Australian issuer, and the practical risk lives mostly in the exchange behind it.

What to take instead

CoinJar is not the only crypto card on the market, and the alternatives differ enough from it that the right pick depends on what you are optimising for. The three below are the most commonly compared options.

MSX (6.4 / 10). The card details and fees are not officially stated, so the headline score reflects the documented features rather than a full fee schedule. MSX is a useful fallback if CoinJar’s geographic restriction rules you out, but the lack of a public fee table means you should confirm the costs in-app before you commit.

Bybit Card (6.0 / 10). A multi-region card with a wider set of supported countries: Argentina, the AIFC in Kazakhstan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, Peru, and an Asia Pacific region. It is explicitly not for European Economic Area customers, and the fiat-service restricted list (which covers deposits, withdrawals, and One-Click Buy but not the card as such) includes Belarus, Russia, Serbia, China, and the United States. The card itself can be virtual or physical, depending on region, and the card currency is tied to the country your Advanced Identity Verification was done in: USD for AIFC, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Australia, and Asia Pacific; ARS for Argentina; MXN for Mexico; BRL for Brazil; and PEN or USD for Peru. Crypto conversion is 0.9% over the One-Click Sell rate in most regions, 0.5% in Argentina, and not supported in Peru. FX fees are 2% on top of the network rate in most regions, 7% in Argentina, 1.5% in Brazil, and 1% in Peru. Cashback is tiered, from 2% at Base to 10% at the top Infinite tier, paid in USDT, with a 10% welcome offer up to 110 USDT in the first 30 days. The card is the most feature-rich alternative on this list, but the rewards structure rewards higher monthly spend, and the regional differences mean the headline numbers are not the numbers you will pay.

MEXC (5.6 / 10). Virtual card only, with no physical version available at the time of writing. The signup page lists the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, and others behind a Details link; the full list is not shown. Issuance appears to be 20 USD (the page shows a possibly discounted 0 USD price, which the source flagged as unclear), with no service fee stated. Funding runs through USDT transferred to a Fiat account, then added on the My MEXC Card page; networks are not stated. Cashback is paid by M-Score tier, by the 15th of the next month: Standard 4% (cap 100 USDT/month), Premier 6% (cap 300), Elite 10% (cap 800). MEXC is the cheapest alternative in fee terms, but the virtual-only model and the narrower documentation make it harder to compare to CoinJar on day-to-day use.

Who I would recommend the CoinJar card to

The card earns its 5.5 because of a specific use case rather than a general one. The use case is: you live in Australia, you already have a verified CoinJar account, you hold crypto on the exchange, and you want a free Mastercard to spend that crypto at Australian merchants and ATMs without having to manually convert it every time.

If that is you, the card is a clean fit. The 1% purchase fee is rebadged as Rewards points that offset your future trading fees, the 2.99% foreign transaction fee is only painful when you spend outside Australia, and the 1% ATM fee is competitive for a prepaid card. Apple Pay and Google Pay support is solid, and the digital card is available the moment the account is verified.

If that is not you, the card is the wrong choice. A non-Australian resident cannot get it. A user who wants to fund the card with a stablecoin on a specific network will find the on-ramp restrictive, because CoinJar does not publish the coin or network list on the card page. A user who wants the lowest-fee crypto card on the market will find cheaper options in the alternatives section. And a user who is uncomfortable with a custodial model — where the exchange holds the keys and the card draws on a balance the exchange controls — should look at self-custody-linked cards, with the understanding that those come with their own key-management responsibility.

The honest summary: this is a card for an Australian CoinJar customer who wants to spend at the local supermarket, not a card for someone shopping around the global crypto-card market.

Frequently asked questions

What is the CoinJar card?

The CoinJar card is a prepaid Mastercard issued by EML Payment Solutions Limited in Australia. It is tied to a CoinJar Everyday Account, draws on the AUD value of a crypto balance you hold on the exchange, and is available as both a digital card and a free physical card. The card was launched in Australia in August 2021 and a UK GBP version was launched in February 2022, but the current product is positioned around Australian residents.

How does the CoinJar card work?

You pick a cryptocurrency as your “Spend” account inside the CoinJar app. When you tap the card or pay online, CoinJar converts the crypto at its own rate (which includes the platform’s normal trading fee) and settles the merchant in Australian dollars. The merchant sees an ordinary Mastercard transaction. Refunds come back to the Everyday Account in AUD, not in the original crypto.

Is CoinJar a bank?

No. CoinJar is a cryptocurrency exchange; the card is issued by EML Payment Solutions Limited, which holds Australian Financial Services Licence 404131, with CoinJar Australia Pty Ltd acting as authorised representative. The card is a prepaid product, not a credit card, and customer funds are not the same as bank deposits.

Who owns CoinJar?

CoinJar is operated by CoinJar Australia Pty Ltd and its related entities. The card programme itself is held by EML Payment Solutions Limited, an Australian-licensed payments company. The exchange and the issuer are separate companies linked by an authorised-representative arrangement.

Is the CoinJar card available in my country?

The card’s public pages do not list eligible countries, and the PDS restricts the card to Australian residents aged 18 or over with a verified account. For anyone outside Australia, the card is effectively unavailable, even if a CoinJar exchange account can technically be opened elsewhere. Bybit Card, with regional versions in Argentina, Australia, parts of Asia Pacific, Brazil, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Mexico, and Peru, is the more common fallback for non-Australian users.

How do I get the CoinJar card?

You open and verify a CoinJar account, then order the card from inside the app. The digital card is available immediately, the physical card is free, and Apple Pay and Google Pay can be set up the moment the card is issued. The PDS does not publish how long verification takes or why an application might be rejected.

Does the CoinJar card require KYC?

Yes. The card requires a verified CoinJar account, which means the platform’s standard identity verification has to be completed first. The PDS does not list the specific documents required or the processing time; both are handled at the exchange level, not on the card page.

How do I top up the CoinJar card?

Top-up is two steps. You deposit crypto into your CoinJar exchange account, then choose one of your holdings as your “Spend” account inside the app. The card draws on the AUD value of that holding, and the platform charges its normal trading fee when it sells the crypto for the purchase. The card page does not publish the list of supported coins or networks, so the current menu should be checked in the app.

How do I add the CoinJar card to Apple Wallet or Google Pay?

Once the digital card is issued inside the app, you add it through the Apple Wallet or Google Pay flow on the same device. The tokenised card number is stored in the device’s Secure Element, and each payment uses a one-time dynamic security code. The card number itself is not stored on Apple or Google servers.

Is the CoinJar card worth it?

It depends on what “worth it” means in your case. For an Australian resident spending AUD at Australian merchants, the free issuance, the 1% fee returned as Rewards points, and the mobile-wallet support make the card good value. For anyone outside Australia, for users who want to minimise foreign transaction costs, or for users who prefer a self-custody model, the card is not the strongest option on the market, and the alternatives section above is the place to start.

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