What the SORA card closure means for the money still on it

Updated October 2026

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The SORA card is no longer something you can apply for. The programme stopped card issuance, the in-app card functions and the card itself at 18:00 GMT on Friday 30 January 2026, and no new applicants are being accepted. So this is not a review of a card you might sign up for. It is a review of a card that has already stopped working, aimed at two different readers: anyone still holding a balance and trying to get it out, and anyone who read about the programme while it was alive and is now weighing what to use instead. Both of you get an honest answer below, including where the honest answer is “nobody knows yet”.

My score for the card is 2.2 out of 10, and that is not a penalty for a bad product. The product itself was not bad; the fees were low and the everyday use was ordinary. The score is a score of the card as it stands now, and a closed programme with inaccessible balances is close to the bottom of any scale.

The conditions described here are current as of October 28, 2026.

Verdict: 2.2 out of 10, because the card no longer exists as a service

The single most important thing about SORA today is that it is closed. Everything else — the fee schedule, the ATM pricing, the conversion route, the Apple Pay promise — is a historical fact about a product you can no longer join. If you were considering the card because it seemed like a cheap way to hold and spend crypto, the decision has been made for you, and it was made in January 2026.

Who the card suited, in its time: EEA residents who passed identity checks, who wanted a crypto balance converted into euro and spent like ordinary money, and who did not mind that the money sat behind an intermediary rather than in their own wallet. Who it does not suit now: everyone, without exception, because there is nothing to join.

Let me show where the 2.2 comes from, criterion by criterion, with the reasoning I used.

One thing worth being clear about, because it is easy to misread: SORA Wallet is a separate thing from SORA Card. The notice said the card, the app’s card functions and card-related services stop after 30 January 2026 18:00 GMT, and the SORA Wallet continues. A crypto wallet that keeps working is not a payment card. Do not read “SORA still exists” as “you can still pay with a card”.

What happened to the programme

The card ran from a SORA Biome in Bulgaria, which ran the site and the apps, with the card itself issued by Unlimit EU Ltd in Cyprus, an e-money institution licensed by the Central Bank of Cyprus under licence 115.1.3.7. That structure is common in this category: the crypto brand markets the product, the licensed institution actually holds the card programme and the funds. It matters for you because it decides who you have to chase when the balance is stuck, and here it meant the answer was not SORA.

The sequence, from the official notice dated 10 January 2026: card and app card functions stop after Friday 30 January 2026 18:00 GMT; GateHub wallets had to be emptied before that cut-off; Unlimit had suspended some accounts earlier; and SORA Wallet continues. No official reason for the closure was published.

A useful frame for this is that card programmes end more often than people expect, and the way they end is usually the same shape. A notice period, then spending and loading stop, then users are asked to withdraw what is left. SORA followed that shape. In November 2022 Visa said it had terminated its global agreements with FTX, and the FTX US debit card programme was wound down by its issuer. In 2018 Visa suspended WaveCrest in Europe, closing all WaveCrest-issued Visa programmes. SORA is not a scandal of that kind, and no cause is stated for it, but it is the same structural fact: the brand is not the institution, and the institution can stop.

Who the card was for also matters if you are still holding one. It was open to EEA residents passing identity checks — by residence, not nationality — and residents of Russia, Iran and DPRK were not eligible, with a fuller list published at the card’s own blacklist page. If you hold a SORA card, you were eligible under those terms, which is worth keeping in mind later when an issuer asks questions.

If you already have the card: what happens to your money

This is the section that matters most for anyone reading this with a balance attached, so I will be blunt about the shape of the problem. After 30 January 2026 18:00 GMT, the app gives you no access to your balance. The only route the card points to is Unlimit support, at [email protected]. Some accounts were suspended by Unlimit earlier in the process; those may still display a balance while remaining inaccessible until Unlimit reviews them. And the card states plainly that SORA itself cannot submit release requests on your behalf.

So, as things stood: you do not have a card, you do not have an app that shows your money, and you have a support address rather than a person who can act for you. If you are in that position, the first thing to do is write to [email protected], because they hold the account and they are the only party named as being able to release funds. The details KYC asked for were a selfie, an ID document and proof of address; identity checking was required, though the pages I read do not state levels or processing time.

For reference, the money side of the card worked like this while it was alive. Top-up was by conversion of XOR into EUR or by SEPA transfer; there was no direct crypto load, and the ledger load fee was €0. Minimum top-ups were not stated. Outgoing SEPA and SEPA Instant transfers were €0.50 each. ATM withdrawals in domestic EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway cost €1.20 + 3%, and international ones €1.75 + 3%, with the first balance inquiry each month free. Standard card fees, as dated 17 September 2024: issuance of the first card, virtual or physical, €0, monthly €0, and client membership €39 per year after the first year. Domestic payments were free for the first 10 online and 10 point-of-sale transactions per month; international card payments €0.90 + 1.1%; crypto conversion went through an XOR/EUR partner with the spread not stated. The wallet side was self-custodial, meaning you keep the keys; two-factor authentication and biometrics were mentioned; a card-freeze feature was not described.

Two things I could not find, and I would rather say so than guess: transaction limits were said to be published at the card’s fees page but the amounts were not present, and dispute handling was not stated on the pages I read. Closure fees and replacement cost were not listed. The card’s own support channels were a support page, a contact page, a techsupport address, plus Discord, Telegram, X and Reddit; the site ran in English and Spanish, Russian was not offered, and hours were not stated.

What can go wrong

The thing that can go wrong here is not a fee or a declined payment. It is that your money sits with a licensed e-money institution in Cyprus, behind a card that no longer works, in an account that its own issuer has suspended, with no deposit insurance behind it.

That last point is the one people miss. Unlimit EU Ltd is an e-money institution, not a bank, and its funds are not covered by Cyprus Deposit Insurance. This is normal for the category rather than a scandal: e-money institutions must safeguard customer funds, by segregating them in dedicated accounts or insuring them, but safeguarded e-money is not the same as a bank deposit and may not sit under a deposit guarantee scheme. The same applies to the crypto side: the card ran on self-custodial crypto, which meant the SORA Wallet keys were yours, but the card balance itself was not your wallet.

The freeze pattern is also worth understanding, because it is not arbitrary. Identity checks are not paperwork for its own sake. Under anti-money-laundering law, regulated businesses must verify customers and assess risk, including ongoing transaction monitoring and suspicious-activity reporting. In the EU, customer due diligence covers name, address, date of birth, nationality and identity documentation, a sanctions check, the purpose of the relationship, and whether the customer is a politically exposed person. Nationality is screened separately from residence, because sanctions and issuer risk policy apply to citizenship and country of birth as well as country of address. And if due diligence cannot be completed, EU rules require the institution to hold back from the transaction or relationship and, where necessary, end the relationship. That is why accounts get frozen pending documents, and it is the most likely ordinary explanation for an account being held. It is a reason for the situation, not a guarantee about how quickly it resolves.

I also found no pattern of user complaints to report. There is a Trustpilot page for the card, and I found no Reddit or Trustpilot reports of problems as of the check date. I read that as “no evidence of a widespread complaint problem”, not as evidence that the closure was handled well — absence of reviews is weak evidence either way, and the closing of the programme is itself the material fact.

Finally, on habits worth keeping or dropping. Card controls exist for a reason: an instant freeze, spending limits, 3-D Secure confirmation and tokenised mobile wallets are the standard safeguards. Apple Pay replaces the card number with a device-specific number stored in the Secure Element, never on Apple’s servers, and each payment uses a one-time code — but SORA only promised Apple Pay and Google Pay for “Phase 2”, so that never arrived. Blocked spending categories were not stated either. If you move to one of the alternatives below, check what the issuer blocks: gambling sits under merchant category code 7995, and many issuers block it by policy rather than by law, with the list differing per issuer. Declined payments can also leave a hold on your money for up to several days.

What to take instead

If the SORA closure taught you something about crypto money and ordinary spending, the sensible next step is a card that is still open, in your region, and priced clearly. Here is how the three open alternatives I looked at compare, on the published figures only.

MetaMask is the strongest of the three on the numbers, and its model is the one most unlike SORA: money stays in your own wallet until you pay, across Linea, Base, Monad and Solana, with mUSD, wETH, EURe, GBpe, USDC and USDT named (the page says nine tokens). The virtual card is free with no annual or maintenance fee and issued instantly; a metal card can be pre-ordered in the app after approval, at $199/year, and you get one card per user. The issuer is Monovate and the card provider Crypto Life. Fees are described as a minimal per-transaction amount with no additional MetaMask fees and no foreign transaction fee — the amount itself was not on the pages I read, and a fee table is linked there. Cashback is paid in mUSD into the Money Account at 1% on virtual and 3% headline on metal, with the footnote limiting 3% to the first $10,000 spent and then 1%, plus a $FLY bonus through the Blackbird dining app. What to check first: eligibility. Sign-up covers 45 listed countries and territories with proof of residency required, other regions go to a waitlist, and US and UK sign-ups are temporarily closed per the FAQ.

KAST is the one to look at if you want stablecoin balances treated as plain dollars. Cards are virtual or physical, up to 10 per user, on Visa — Platinum for Standard, Infinite metal for Premium, Infinite gold plated for Private, with other designs including Pengu, Solana and Bitcoin — and the account balance is in USD, with stablecoin deposits converted 1:1 at a 0% spread. The pricing is aggressive at the top: Standard $0, Premium $1,000/year, Private $10,000/year, billed annually upfront with no monthly option. An extra virtual card is $2, a Standard physical card is $0 card fee plus $40 delivery while Premium and Private physical cards are included, and there is a $1/month inactivity fee after 12 months. Fees are unusually explicit: stablecoin top-up 0%, card spend in USD 0%, transaction fee 0%, Apple and Google Pay 0%, non-USD FX 0.5%–1.75% depending on residence and transaction country, $0.10 on non-USD transactions under $25, and $0.50 for a declined payment. Cashback is 1.5% / 2% / 3% USD on the first $2,000 / $10,000 / $40,000 of monthly spend, paid in USD when the transaction is authorised, with KAST Points adding 1% or 2% of eligible spend on Premium and Private. What to check first: eligibility. The country list is not published — you only find out at KYC — and holding an ID from a restricted region can disqualify you even if you live in a supported country, while dual citizens with an ID from a supported country may pass. Only the account holder’s own ID is accepted, and a VPN does not bypass this. One conflict to note: the app lists PYUSD and RLUSD among accepted tokens, while the Terms say acceptable tokens are “currently USDT and USDC”.

TokenPocket is third on score but worth understanding, because it splits the card by region rather than offering one global product. A Visa debit card covers a list of European countries and territories including Germany, France, Spain and Switzerland; a Mastercard debit card covers Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and the UK, among others, with the Americas “planned for Q2 2025”. The card runs on Arbitrum, Fiat24 cards are virtual with no physical card mentioned, and balances are held in EUR24 and USD24. On cost, the NFT creation fee is partly covered by TokenPocket and you pay “a small portion” with the amount not stated, and apart from that TP Card charges no additional fees. The one fee that is stated: 1% on depositing cryptocurrency into the TP Card, to be refunded later through rewards or reduced transaction fees — no cashback is stated, and an FX fee is not stated either, though extra fees can come from inter-institution settlement.

A word on what none of these can promise you. Three structures recur, and they behave differently when things go wrong. With a custodial wallet the provider holds the credentials, so you must trust the provider completely — and custodial platforms have a real record: Mt. Gox (about US$350 million reported stolen, 2011-2014), Coincheck (about US$400 million, 2018) and Ronin Network (US$625 million, 2022). With a self-custody-linked card, funds stay in your own wallet until the moment of payment, but you bear sole responsibility for key loss and for phishing or clipboard-hijacking malware that swaps a copied address. Blockchain transfers are irreversible, so a deposit sent on a network the provider does not support can be lost or need manual recovery with no guarantee. And a stablecoin is not a guarantee of anything: they can depeg — TerraUSD collapsed in May 2022, and USDC temporarily lost its peg in March 2023 during the US banking crisis. Tether also says it disables tokens in wallets on the OFAC sanctions list and has frozen funds tied to illicit activity, so stablecoins are not censorship-proof.

Who I would recommend it to

Nobody, as a card to get. That is not a dodge; the programme is closed and there is no application to accept.

To people already holding a SORA card: contact [email protected], because they hold the account and are the only party the card names as able to release balances. Keep every record you have — the app, the emails, any statement showing a balance — and expect to be asked again for the selfie, ID document and proof of address that KYC required, since completing due diligence is a legal obligation on them and a condition of releasing the money. The card is clear that SORA cannot submit release requests for users, so do not spend time waiting on SORA support to do it for you. And if your account was suspended, the balance showing on a screen is not the same as the balance being available; treat it as inaccessible until Unlimit says otherwise.

To people who were minded to try it and have not yet: pick from the three above on the basis of your own residence and your own money. MetaMask suits you if you hold stablecoins and want them to stay in your own wallet until the moment of payment, and if your country is on its 45-country list. KAST suits you if you want the simplest possible statement — stablecoins converted 1:1 into dollars, zero spend fees in USD — and you can live with a membership that runs to four figures at the upper tiers. TokenPocket suits you if your country sits on the Visa list for Europe or the Mastercard list elsewhere. In every case, read the eligibility rules for your own residence and your own ID before anything else, because on all three, who you are decides whether you can open the account at all.

To everyone else: a card of this kind is a convenience, not a strategy. Keep the crypto in a wallet you control, treat any card balance as money in someone else’s hands, and check the issuer’s licence and deposit protection before loading anything.

One last thing, since it affects anyone reading later: none of this is tax or legal advice. If you withdraw a balance, or if you spent from one, the treatment depends on your own situation, and worth asking someone qualified rather than me.

Frequently asked questions

What is the SORA card?

The SORA card was a debit card that let you hold and spend money converted from the XOR token, plus SEPA transfers. It came as a physical card and a digital one. It was run by SORA Biome in Bulgaria and issued by Unlimit EU Ltd in Cyprus, an e-money institution. The card part of the business stopped on 30 January 2026; the SORA Wallet is a separate product and continued.

How does the SORA card work?

You loaded the card either by converting XOR into euro or by a SEPA transfer, then spent the balance like an ordinary debit card. There was no direct crypto load onto the card itself. While it ran, ATM withdrawals cost €1.20 + 3% domestically in the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, and €1.75 + 3% internationally. This is now history, since the card no longer functions.

Is SORA a bank?

No. The card was issued by Unlimit EU Ltd, an electronic money institution licensed by the Central Bank of Cyprus under licence 115.1.3.7, and its funds are not covered by Cyprus Deposit Insurance. SORA Biome is a Bulgarian company running the site and apps. The crypto side, the SORA Wallet, was self-custodial, meaning you kept the keys yourself.

Who owns SORA?

SORA is the brand, run by SORA Biome in Bulgaria. The card programme itself belonged to the issuer, Unlimit EU Ltd in Cyprus. That split is normal in this category and it is exactly why a brand-level shutdown does not settle your balance — the licensed institution holds the money, not the brand.

Can I still apply for a SORA card?

No. Issuance is closed. The official notice dated 10 January 2026 said the card, the app’s card functions and related services stop after 18:00 GMT on Friday 30 January 2026, and no new applicants are being taken. If you see an old article or a sign-up page, the page is out of date.

How do I get my SORA balance back?

Write to [email protected]. After the cut-off the app gives no access to balances, and the card names Unlimit support as the only route. Some accounts were suspended by Unlimit and may show a balance that stays inaccessible until their review finishes. SORA cannot submit release requests for users, so keep your own records and expect to resend ID documents.

Was the SORA card free?

The card part was cheap while it ran, according to fees dated 17 September 2024: the first physical or virtual card €0, no monthly fee, and client membership €39 per year charged after the first year. International card payments cost €0.90 + 1.1%, and domestic payments were free for the first 10 online and 10 point-of-sale transactions a month.

Is the SORA card safe?

It was never a bank deposit and the funds were not deposit-insured, which is typical for this category. Card functions have now stopped entirely, so the real question is not fraud risk but whether your balance is reachable. Write to the issuer, not the brand, and expect identity checks again before anything is released.

How do I top up a SORA card?

You cannot any more. While it ran, the two routes were converting XOR into EUR or sending a SEPA transfer, with a €0 ledger load fee and no minimum stated. There was never a direct crypto load. If you hold XOR, it sits in the SORA Wallet, and any GateHub wallet balance had to be emptied before the 30 January 2026 cut-off.

What should I use instead of the SORA card?

Look at three still-open options: MetaMask Card, which spends straight from your own wallet with a free virtual card and is open in 45 listed countries; KAST, which converts stablecoins into dollars 1:1 with no spend fee in USD and cashback from 1.5% upward, but hides its country list until KYC; and TokenPocket Card, which offers Visa in Europe and Mastercard in a long list of other countries. Check eligibility for your own residence and ID first.

Is SORA Wallet also closed?

No, and this is a common mix-up. The notice covered the card, the app’s card functions and related services, all of which stopped after 18:00 GMT on 30 January 2026. The SORA Wallet continued. A working self-custodial wallet is where your crypto actually lives, so if you hold XOR, that is the part still operating.

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