The MetaMask Card has finally been fully launched in the U.S., and my first reaction was: will it really be this easy to spend crypto assets directly from your wallet address? Yes, it seems so. After the pilot period at the end of 2024, users can now use this card in 49 states, including (New York, excluding Vermont).

To put it plainly, this MetaMask card game changes things a bit. Like most crypto cards, you don’t have to deposit money into a centralized account in advance. Your assets sitting in your wallet—such as USDC, USDT, or wETH—stay there; the system just converts them to dollars at the time of purchase. Built through the partnership between Mastercard and Baanx, this setup works at more than 150 million merchants worldwide. Thanks to the Linea L2 network, transaction costs are also almost zero (about a $0,01 gas fee).

If you want a physical card, there’s a premium metal tier available. It costs $199 per year, includes 16 grams of stainless steel, has higher spending limits ($30.000 per day), and has no foreign transaction fees. The most interesting part is the rewards system: at the metal tier, you earn 3% cashback up to the first $10,000, while at the standard tier it’s 1%. Rewards are distributed on-chain in mUSD. The virtual tier is free, but it comes with 1% cashback and slightly lower limits.

To comply with AML/KYC requirements, you need to verify your identity, but this takes only a few minutes within the MetaMask app. The card issued by Cross River Bank includes features such as Mastercard’s standard consumer protections, zero liability, and protection against identity theft. You retain ownership of your own keys, which means that losing the card doesn’t put your seed phrase at risk.

Metal members also get travel benefits through Entravel: up to 60% discounts at select hotels. Technically, the card works on Linea, Base, and Solana, supporting stablecoins such as USDC, USDT, mUSD, EURe, and GBPe. There are also interest-bearing tokens like aUSDC and amUSD, meaning you can earn interest until you spend your money.

This MetaMask card shows that the crypto industry is more than just speculative assets. Turning it into a tool you can actually use for everyday spending is a real step forward for the DeFi ecosystem. Earning cashback while controlling your own assets is something crypto users have wanted for a long time. If you’re thinking about using it, you can get a virtual card right away, and you can invest $199 for the physical one. If you have plans to travel abroad, the metal tier looks quite reasonable.