Crypto card startups are racking up losses just to buy your loyalty with big rewards

From the source

Providers are betting trading, lending and staking revenue can cover rewards and turn card users into profitable customers. Ever-growing cashback limits, high returns on cash balances, massive discounts on some purchases: crypto-backed payment cards are offering rewards that seem nearly impossible to match. The problem for some card providers is that the price they’re paying for growth is more than the customers they attract bring in. Consider KAST. The stablecoin-powered financial platform, which issues cards on the Visa network, moved from near break-even into losses as it increased spending on growth, CEO Raagulan Pathy told CoinDesk in an interview. Or Bleap, which offers up to 15% on returns on crypto holdings and 20% cashback on purchases. If all customers do is spend on its Mastercard and collect cashback, they can be unprofitable, Bleap Latvia CEO Eduards Timofejevs said in a separate interview. The companies are betting that, eventually, those customers will trade, borrow or…

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