Fold Launches Visa Credit Card With BTC Rewards; Shares Swing Sharply
Fold said Tuesday it will launch a Visa credit card powered by Stripe Issuing that pays BTC rewards on every purchase, a move that sent its shares soaring in pre-market trading before they fell later than the open.
The Nasdaq-listed company (ticker: FLD) said the card will provide up to 3.5% back on spending, including 2% unlimited instantly and an additional 1.5% for customers who pay balances from a Fold checking account with qualifying activity. It will also feature brand offers of as much as 10% back across a wide merchant network.
According to company filings, Fold’s brand partners include major U.S. retailers such as Amazon, Starbucks, and Airbnb, which have previously participated in Fold’s rewards ecosystem.
“There are no categories to manage, no tokens to stake, no platform account or balance requirements,” said Fold chairman and chief executive Will Reeves. “It’s just real BTC, earned automatically with every purchase.”
The product is part of Fold’s consumer suite, which spans banking, custody, platform, and debit services. The firm said it has processed $3.1 billion in transaction volume and distributed $83 million in BTC rewards to date. Fold, founded in 2014 and initially known for its BTC gift card business, pivoted into crypto rewards in 2019 and has since grown to over 500,000 active users, according to internal company metrics shared with investors last quarter.
Stripe, which provides the card-issuing infrastructure, has expanded its crypto initiatives this year, including Tempo, a payments-focused blockchain incubated with Paradigm, and partnerships that enabled Shopify merchants to accept USDC through Coinbase. Stripe first entered crypto in 2014 by supporting BTC payments but withdrew in 2018 citing volatility. Its re-entry in 2022 through stablecoin rails has made it one of the most influential fintechs bridging traditional payments and blockchain.
Visa has also stepped up its digital asset work, reporting an estimated $1 billion in annualized stablecoin settlement volume, about four times higher than earlier in the year. Visa has more than 100 crypto partnerships globally, including with Coinbase, Crypto.com, and Circle, underscoring the rising competition for payments-linked digital asset rewards.
later than climbing more than 23% in pre-market trading, Fold shares were down about 10% at $3.46 by mid-later thannoon. The stock, which debuted on Nasdaq in July 2023 via a direct listing at $8 per share, has struggled to maintain momentum amid broader fragileness in U.S. fintech equities.
