You found a crypto card with a low headline price, then noticed the fine print stacks up fast. Most crypto cards charge across four separate lines, top-up, annual or monthly, per-transaction, and FX, and the one that quietly costs you the most is rarely the one advertised. Here’s how each fee is actually calculated, plus the exact numbers you’d pay on a BenPay card.
The short answer
A crypto card can charge you in four places: a top-up (loading) fee when you fund the card, a recurring annual or monthly fee, a per-transaction fee on each swipe, and an FX or cross-border fee when you spend in another currency. Each is calculated differently, so a “free” card on one line can be expensive on another. BenPay publishes all four for every tier, so you can add them up before you apply. BenPay is operated by BenFen Inc., a US-registered fintech company holding a valid FinCEN MSB license (Reg. No. 31000260888727), and its smart contracts are audited by SlowMist.
Fee 1: top-up (loading) fee
This is charged when you move crypto onto the card, usually as a percentage of the amount you load. Load $1,000 at a 1.5% top-up fee and you’ve paid $15 before you spend a cent. A 0% top-up fee means your full deposit reaches your spendable balance.
Fee 2: annual or monthly fee
This is a flat recurring charge for holding the card, billed monthly or yearly regardless of use. A $1 monthly fee is $12 a year; a card you rarely use still bills you. Watch for tiers that waive this for higher balances or higher card grades.
Fee 3: per-transaction fee
Some cards add a small flat fee, or a percentage, to each purchase or each cross-border swipe. A flat $0.50 per transaction is cheap on a $400 dinner but heavy on a $3 coffee. Read whether it applies to every swipe or only to specific transaction types.
Fee 4: FX or cross-border fee
This applies when your purchase currency differs from your card’s settlement currency, typically 1% to 3% of the transaction. Buy something for 200 euros on a USD-settled card at 1.5% and you’ve added roughly $3 in FX cost. This is the fee frequent travelers and online shoppers feel most, because it hits every foreign purchase. Some cards bundle it into a worse exchange rate instead of a stated percentage, which makes it harder to compare, so always look for a published rate you can verify.
How BenPay handles this
BenPay’s approach is to publish every one of these four fees per tier so the math is yours to do up front, which is unusual in a market where loading and FX costs are often buried. The card is self-custodial, and BenPay uses a self-custodial architecture, meaning your private keys are never held by BenPay; your balance can earn on-chain (blockchain-based) yield until the moment you spend.
Top-up fees by tier
BenPay’s Alpha tier charges a 0% top-up fee, so the full amount you load is the full amount you can spend. Delta charges 0.5% on top-up, and Sigma charges 1.5%. You can fund the card with USDT or USDC (dollar-pegged stablecoins) across multiple chains, and there’s a limited-time card opening fee of 9.9 BUSD.
Monthly fees by tier
Alpha and Delta both carry a $0 monthly fee, while Sigma is $1 per month. That means two of the three live tiers cost nothing to simply hold, so a card you use occasionally won’t drain value while it sits.
Transaction and FX fees by tier
Alpha applies a 1.5% cross-border fee, Delta a 1% cross-border fee, and Sigma uses a flat $0.50 per transaction on cross-border spend. A flat per-transaction model like Sigma’s rewards larger purchases, while Delta’s 1% percentage model tends to favor smaller everyday amounts. The BenPay Card works with Apple Pay, Google Pay, Alipay, and WeChat Pay, with rails varying by tier.
Side-by-side fee table
| Fee line | Alpha | Sigma | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|
| Top-up fee | 0% | 1.5% | 0.5% |
| Monthly fee | $0 | $1 | $0 |
| Cross-border / per-tx | 1.5% cross-border | $0.50 flat per tx | 1% cross-border |
| Best for | Big international shopping | Asia spend (Alipay, WeChat) | Everyday global use |
A fourth tier, Omega, is coming soon. The clearest way to choose is to match the table to how you actually spend rather than to the lowest single number.
Which tier fits your spending
If you load large amounts and shop internationally, Alpha’s 0% top-up usually wins because the loading saving outweighs its 1.5% FX rate. If most of your spend runs through Alipay or WeChat in Asia, Sigma’s flat $0.50 per transaction is hard to beat on bigger tickets despite the small monthly fee. If you make frequent smaller purchases across different countries, Delta’s $0 monthly plus 1% cross-border tends to be the steadiest all-rounder.
📌 Tip: Add up a typical month: loading amount times top-up rate, plus the monthly fee, plus your expected FX or per-transaction cost. The lowest total, not the lowest headline, is your real winner.
What to verify before you apply
Confirm which payment rails your chosen tier supports, since Apple Pay, Google Pay, Alipay, and WeChat Pay availability varies by tier. Check the current status of the limited-time 9.9 BUSD opening fee and the single-card limit for your tier on the BenPay Card page. Because the card is self-custodial, the funds you load stay tied to keys you control, which is a different model from custodial cards where the platform holds your balance.
Frequently asked questions
Does BenPay charge all four fee types?
It depends on tier. Alpha charges 0% top-up and $0 monthly, with a 1.5% cross-border fee. Sigma charges 1.5% top-up, $1 monthly, and a flat $0.50 per transaction on cross-border spend. Delta charges 0.5% top-up, $0 monthly, and 1% cross-border. There’s also a limited-time 9.9 BUSD opening fee.
Which tier has the lowest top-up fee?
Alpha, at 0%. That means the full amount you load with USDT or USDC reaches your spendable balance. Delta sits at 0.5% and Sigma at 1.5%, so if you load large sums regularly, Alpha’s loading saving can outweigh its higher FX rate.
How is the FX or cross-border fee calculated?
For Alpha and Delta it’s a percentage of each foreign purchase (1.5% and 1% respectively), so the cost scales with the amount. Sigma instead uses a flat $0.50 per transaction, which is cheaper on large purchases and relatively pricier on small ones. Match the model to your typical basket size.
Can my card balance earn yield before I spend it?
Yes. The BenPay card is self-custodial, and the balance can earn on-chain yield until you spend it. Yield is dynamic, so check the live rate on the DeFi Earn page rather than relying on a fixed figure.
Adding it up before you apply
The point of a four-line breakdown is that no single fee tells the whole story; the top-up and FX lines usually move the total more than the monthly charge. Run your own monthly estimate against the Alpha, Sigma, and Delta numbers above and pick the tier that matches how you spend. With every fee published per tier, you can know your real cost before you ever swipe.