The Nexo Card lets you spend without selling by borrowing against your crypto at rates from 1.9%. We tested Credit and Debit Mode, checked the loan-to-value math and looked at Nexo's 2023 US settlement before deciding who should actually use this.
Spending crypto without selling it sounds like a trick until you see the mechanics: Nexo lends against a balance you already hold, the same idea behind a margin loan, wrapped in a Mastercard. We opened an account, moved a small BTC balance into a Credit Wallet and ran purchases through both of the card's modes to see where the pitch holds and where it needs a caveat.
Two very different ways to spend
Credit Mode and Debit Mode share a card number but work nothing alike. Debit Mode spends money you already converted to a stablecoin, EURx, GBPx or USDx, and that idle balance earns up to 14% APY, paid daily, until you use it. Debit Mode also carries a 0.75% swap fee whenever Nexo converts your chosen crypto into that spendable balance, plus a separate FX fee if the merchant charges in a different currency.
Credit Mode is the more interesting, and riskier, half. Instead of selling anything, Nexo opens a loan against the crypto sitting in your Credit Wallet and the card draws down that loan as you spend. No sale means no taxable event in most jurisdictions, which is the entire sales pitch. What Nexo does not put on the homepage in the same font size is that the loan has a loan-to-value ratio, and that ratio moves with the market.
