How to pay with crypto

You can pay with crypto through five routes, and each one trades convenience against cost and control. Handing a cashier your seed phrase is not one of them.

1. Crypto card. A crypto debit card links to your crypto balance and sells the amount you need at the moment you pay. The merchant receives a normal card payment in local currency, so the card works wherever Visa or Mastercard is accepted. Card routes suit everyday spending, in store and online. The catch: most purchases include a conversion spread, and each one is usually a taxable sale.

2. Payment app or gateway. Crypto payment apps let you check out with crypto held in the app, or pay friends by username instead of a wallet address. Payment gateways such as BitPay sit between you and an online store and convert your payment for the merchant. Apps and gateways suit online checkouts and paying people you know. The catch: you can only pay where that app or gateway is supported.

3. Direct onchain transfer. You send coins such as bitcoin (BTC) or ether (ETH) straight from your wallet to an address or QR code the merchant provides. Direct transfers suit merchants that accept crypto natively and holders who want to stay in self-custody. The catch: onchain payments are final. No one can reverse a confirmed payment if something goes wrong.

The first step to pay with crypto is to decide which method is right for you. Considering the card route is the most widely available option (as merchants already have credit card payment terminals), the steps below cover how to pay with crypto using a card.

1. Check which cards you can get. Card availability, card networks and fees differ by country, so confirm eligibility where you live.

2. Verify your identity. Card issuers must confirm who you are before they issue a card.

3. Fund your spending balance. Move crypto or cash into the balance your card spends from.

4. Set your spend order. Pick which assets are sold first, and lock any assets you want to keep.

5. Add the virtual card to your phone wallet. Most issuers let you tap to pay right after approval, before the physical card arrives.

6. Pay the way you would with any card. Tap, insert, or enter the card details online.

7. Check the transaction details. Review the rate, spread and any FX fee, and keep the record for tax time.

8. Get your card on Kraken. Order a Krak Card in the Krak app, or a Kraken Card in the Kraken app if you live in the UK or EEA.

Say you buy $50 of groceries and your spend order starts with bitcoin. For illustration, assume BTC trades at $100,000 at that moment (a round number, not a forecast).

Paying in bitcoin directly means sending BTC from your self-custody wallet to an address the merchant gives you.

1. At checkout, choose bitcoin. The merchant shows an address or QR code, often with a short expiry timer.

2. Scan the QR code, or paste the address and check the first and last six characters against the original.

3. Confirm the amount and the network fee.

4. Send the payment. A Lightning invoice settles in seconds, while an onchain payment confirms in the next block (about 10 minutes on average).

A mistyped or swapped address cannot be reversed, so our checklist for sending crypto safely is worth reading before your first direct payment.

Crypto cards follow one of three models, and the model decides when your crypto is sold, who holds it, and when a tax event happens.

Prepaid cards. You convert crypto to cash in advance and top up a fiat balance on the card. At checkout, you spend cash you already converted. The sale happens at top-up, so you choose the moment you sell.

Custodial auto-convert cards. The card provider holds your assets and sells the crypto you need at the moment you pay. You never pre-convert, so you keep holding right up until you spend. Krak Card and Kraken Card both work this way.

Non-custodial cards. Your crypto stays in a self-custody wallet you control, and the card converts funds from that wallet when you pay, often through a smart contract. You keep your keys, but you also carry the security responsibility, and setup is more technical.

Most crypto cards can be added to Apple Pay or Google Pay, so you can tap your phone at any contactless terminal. Issuers usually give you a virtual card the moment you are approved, which means you can start paying before the physical card arrives.

1. Open your card app and choose the option to add the card to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet.

2. Confirm with the verification code or in-app approval your issuer sends.

3. Set the card as your default if you want it to come up first at checkout.

Tokenization keeps the card number private. Your phone wallet stores a token (a stand-in number) instead of your real card number, and each payment carries a one-time security code. The merchant never sees your card number, and every payment needs your face, fingerprint or passcode.

Krak Card and Kraken Card can both be added to Apple Pay or Google Pay right after approval.

Paying with crypto can involve four separate costs, and most confusion comes from treating them as one.

1. Network fee. The fee paid to a blockchain to process an onchain transaction. It varies by blockchain and congestion, and card and app routes usually absorb it for you.

2. Conversion spread. The gap between the market price and the price you receive when your crypto is sold. It applies on card, app and gift card routes.

3. Card FX fee. A charge some cards add when you pay in a foreign currency.

4. Merchant surcharge. An extra fee some merchants add for certain payment methods. A few merchants offer a discount for crypto instead.

Network fees are the most changeable of the four, rising and falling with demand for block space. Our explainer on blockchain gas fees shows what drives them.

Say you are buying a $1,200 laptop online from a retailer that accepts both cards and crypto.

Route A: card, spending from ether. The card sells $1,200 worth of ETH, plus a conversion spread, and the retailer gets a normal card payment.

In many countries, spending crypto counts as disposing of it, so a purchase can trigger a taxable gain or loss. In the US, the IRS treats digital assets as property. When you spend crypto, its value at the moment of purchase is compared with what you originally paid for it (your cost basis). A higher value can mean a capital gain, and a lower value can mean a capital loss.

Small purchases add up quickly. A daily $5 coffee paid from a bitcoin balance creates 365 separate sales in a year, each with its own date, amount and cost basis.

Paying with crypto can be safe, but your protections depend on the route you choose. Four risks matter most.

Irreversibility. Irreversibility means a confirmed onchain payment cannot be reversed by you, the merchant or anyone else. If you overpay or pay a scammer, getting funds back depends on the recipient choosing to return them.

Address risk. Address risk is the chance of sending funds to the wrong address. It can come from a typo, malware that swaps a copied address, or address poisoning (a look-alike address planted in your transaction history).

Custody risk. Custody risk is the chance that the platform holding your assets fails, freezes withdrawals or is compromised. Card and payment app routes are custodial, which means the provider holds your assets until you spend them.

Chargeback absence. Chargeback absence means losing the dispute rights you normally have with a card. A card route keeps the card network’s standard dispute process. A direct onchain payment does not have one.

Krak Card and Kraken Card add card-level controls on top of those network protections. You can freeze your card instantly in the Krak app, online purchases go through 3D Secure checks, and real-time alerts show every transaction as it happens.

Scammers target crypto payments precisely because they are hard to reverse. Our guide to crypto scams, hacks and fraud covers the common patterns to watch for.

Situation. Jordan, a US trader with two years of experience, holds USD, USDC, bitcoin and Solana (SOL) on Kraken. Heading to Lisbon for a week, Jordan wants to spend without selling the BTC and SOL positions or carrying cash.

You can spend your Kraken balances with two cards: Krak Card and Kraken Card. Both are debit cards that spend from balances you hold in Krak, the global money app built by Kraken, and you manage both in the Krak app with your Kraken login.

You now know the five ways to pay with crypto, the four costs to check, and the tax point that applies to almost all of them. A card is the route that works in the most places, and Krak Card puts it right next to the rest of your money.

Spend from dollars, bitcoin, USDC and 600+ supported assets in one Krak account, set your spend order, and move funds from Kraken for free. Add your virtual card to Apple Pay or Google Pay the moment you are approved, freeze it in a tap, and see every purchase as it happens. In the UK or EEA, you can order a Kraken Card in the Kraken app instead.