Bipa, a Brazilian crypto card that pays you back in Bitcoin but keeps you inside Brazil
Available in US
Bipa is a Brazilian app and a Mastercard-branded card (virtual and physical) that pays a small share of every purchase back in Bitcoin. The plans are priced in reais, the issuer is a Brazilian payment institution, and the conditions I could verify all point one way: this is a card built for someone who lives in Brazil, holds reais and wants Bitcoin rewards without leaving a single app. Outside that audience the picture quickly thins out, because the company does not publish an eligibility list, the foreign-use rules are tight, and many of the numbers a normal card comparison would show — FX, ATM fees, daily limits, KYC processing times — are simply not stated on the pages I read.
If that is broadly your situation, Bipa is worth a closer look. If you are reading this from anywhere else, you should probably keep scrolling and look at one of the alternatives near the end of the page. The verdict below walks through how I reached that conclusion.
Conditions are current as of October 28, 2026.
Verdict
Bipa scores 5.9 out of 10 in my review. The number is an average of five sub-scores that each tell a small part of the story: who can get the card, what it costs, how flexible the top-up options are, how reliable the company looks and how it behaves in everyday use. None of the sub-scores is bad enough to disqualify the card on its own, but the eligibility sub-score pulls the average down hard, and that is the part you should look at first if you are deciding whether to keep reading.
| Criterion | Score | Why it scored this way |
|---|---|---|
| Who can get it | 2 / 10 | The app is built around Brazil: a Brazilian company, plans priced in reais, credit decisions made on Brazilian risk criteria. An eligibility list is not stated, and the public pages I read do not describe how a non-resident would apply. |
| Cost | 6 / 10 | There are four monthly plans (R$0, R$14.90, R$49.90 and R$99.90), some of them waivable by spending, and a physical card that is free on the upper two tiers. FX, conversion and ATM fees are not stated on the card pages, so I cannot tell you the real all-in cost. |
| Top-up options | 8 / 10 | Pix, Bitcoin on-chain and Lightning, USDT on Ethereum and Polygon, plus USDC, SOL, XRP and ETH are accepted. USDT on Solana is not accepted, which is worth knowing if that is your usual network. |
| Reliability and complaints | 8 / 10 | The card issuer is named (Stark Bank S.A. Instituicao de Pagamento) and the operating company (Bipa Intermediação de Ativos Digitais LTDA) has been around since 2020. A dedicated search did not find a Reclame Aqui or Trustpilot page for Bipa. |
| Everyday use | 7 / 10 | Both prepaid and credit Mastercard variants exist, virtual and physical. The card can be added to digital wallets when eligible, but Apple Pay and Google Pay are not named. ATM limits exist in principle but the numbers are not listed. |
| Total | 5.9 / 10 | A solid Brazilian Bitcoin-rewards card that gets marked down because the card is hard to use from outside Brazil and several everyday costs are not publicly stated. |
The reader this card suits, in the language of the Bipa materials themselves, is a Brazilian resident who wants Bitcoin cashback in reais. If that is not you, the card is not really built to be reached. In the rest of the review I walk through who Bipa says it will issue to, what it costs to hold and to spend, how to top it up, what paying with it feels like in practice, and where the risks sit.
Who will they give you the card
The honest answer to “will they give me a Bipa card?” is: probably yes if you live in Brazil, probably unclear if you do not. The card pages I read do not publish a country list, a residency requirement or an age cutoff. What they do show is that the company is Brazilian (Bipa Intermediação de Ativos Digitais LTDA, CNPJ 37.008.710/0001-78, founded in 2020), the plans are priced in Brazilian reais and the credit-card product is described as decided on Brazilian risk criteria. That is a strong signal that the product is built for residents, not for global applicants.
Sign-up requires a selfie and an identity document. Bipa may request updated registration data at any time, and false information can lead to suspension and card cancellation. The applicant must be a natural person of legal age. Any credit limit is approved after prior analysis, though specific criteria for these approvals are not published.
Bipa is a card for those with a Brazilian address, a Brazilian tax ID and a Brazilian bank account. If you meet these criteria, you are in the target audience. If you are missing one, treat Bipa as “ask support before you try”, as the card is not guaranteed to be available for you.
How to get it
Application is through the Bipa app. The flow, as far as it is described in public materials, is: download the app, create an account, submit a selfie and an identity document, and wait for verification. The page I read does not give processing times or a checklist of accepted documents, and it does not explain whether a proof of address is needed for the prepaid card, the credit card or both. Bipa says the levels of verification, accepted documents and processing time are not stated on the page I read.
The card itself is a Mastercard, available in both prepaid and credit variants, virtual and physical, and split into four tiers. The lowest two tiers (Free and Plus) are Mastercard Gold; Pro is Platinum; Max is Black. Bipa also has a “Bipa Crédito” credit card that can be used to buy Bitcoin on credit in up to three installments, which is a feature of the credit product rather than the prepaid one. The card currency is BRL across the board.
The physical card is free on Pro and Max, while Free and Plus tiers charge an unstated fee. Delivery times follow the support channels’ guidance. The credit limit, where relevant, follows Bipa’s risk criteria and the Card Terms, and an increase requires an additional deposit as a guarantee — that is, real cash kept aside, not a crypto deposit.
If you are applying from inside Brazil, the steps are clear enough; if you are applying from anywhere else, the missing pieces (country list, document list, processing time) are exactly the things a serious cardholder would want before they start.
Fees and what a Bipa payment really costs
The price tag for holding a Bipa card is the monthly plan fee, and Bipa publishes that clearly. The price tag for actually using the card — converting, spending abroad, withdrawing cash — is mostly left blank, and that is the part of the costs section you should treat with care.
The four plans and their fees are:
| Fee or limit | Free | Plus | Pro | Max |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly plan fee | R$0 | R$14.90 | R$49.90 | R$99.90 |
| Physical card issue/shipping | Fee (amount not stated) | Fee (amount not stated) | Free | Free |
| Monthly fee waiver | By usage | By usage | By usage | By usage |
| Card cancellation fee | None | None | None | None |
| FX / conversion fee | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated |
| ATM fee | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated |
| Daily / monthly ATM limit | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated |
| Credit limit | Per risk analysis | Per risk analysis | Per risk analysis | Per risk analysis |
A few of those rows deserve an extra sentence. The plan fees can be waived if you spend enough (usage discounts), but the threshold for each tier is not stated. The FX rate may be higher or lower than the BCB average rate, and the IOF (the Brazilian financial-transactions tax) is not named. ATM fees and limits exist in principle, but specific figures and per-withdrawal costs are not listed; the card terms simply point to the Tabela de Tarifas and the user’s plan.
To give you a feel for what a real Bipa payment might cost, here are three everyday examples. None of these are calculations the card issuer publishes; they are illustrations of which fees actually apply, taken from the card terms.
- A coffee paid in reais with a Bipa card, no currency conversion. The only relevant fee is the merchant’s own markup, because no FX is involved and the card’s prepaid or credit balance is already in BRL. This is the cheapest way to spend on Bipa.
- A meal abroad, paid in euros or dollars. The card terms say foreign use is “limited to travel and personal expenses, in credit mode only”, meaning you would need the Bipa Crédito product, not the prepaid card, to spend outside Brazil. The FX rate used by the card is not named, only that it may differ from the BCB average, and any IOF or remittance tax is the cardholder’s responsibility.
- An ATM withdrawal in another country. The card terms say daily, weekly or monthly limits may be imposed and that the ATM fee follows the Tabela de Tarifas and the user’s plan, but they do not list the numbers. So you can withdraw, but the cost is not predictable from public information.
The honest summary is that Bipa is upfront about its plan fees and opaque about the rest. If you are the kind of cardholder who reads the Tabela de Tarifas before signing up, you will be fine; if you are not, the cost of spending abroad or using ATMs is genuinely a question mark until you ask support.
How to top it up
Topping up a Bipa card is one of the more flexible parts of the product. The prepaid card’s balance can be “enabled in crypto” under clause 5.9 of the Card Terms (the exact mechanics are not described on the pages I read), and the credit card is backed by reais kept as collateral or guarantee. Plan fees are debited from the prepaid limit or the reais balance. The exact coins, networks and minimums are stated more clearly in the top-up guide.
The methods Bipa supports, in plain language:
- Pix, the Brazilian instant-payment rail, as a native method (no conversion, no extra network).
- Bitcoin, both on-chain and over the Lightning Network.
- USDT, but only on Ethereum (ERC-20) or Polygon — USDT on Solana is explicitly not accepted.
- USDC, SOL, XRP and ETH, on the networks listed for each.
- Cofrinho (a savings feature inside the app) with a R$50 minimum.
- Fiat withdrawal, in the sense that there is a guide titled “Como sacar ou transferir Dolar (USDT)” and a US$100,000 limit on international crypto transfers (titles only read).
A few details worth keeping in mind. The first time you top up you will be sending real money or real crypto to a real address, and on the crypto side the network choice is the choice that matters. Sending USDT on Solana to an address that expects USDT on Polygon is a typical way to lose funds, and the card terms warn that crypto transfers are generally irreversible. The deposit fees, if any, are not stated on the page I read; you should check the app at the moment of deposit.
If you do most of your funding through Pix, the experience is straightforward. If you fund through crypto, the experience is flexible but you have to read the network labels carefully. The good news is that Lightning and ERC-20 are both available for the two most-used assets, so a normal Bitcoin or USDT user will find a path in.
Paying with it every day
Once the card is loaded, paying with it should feel like paying with any other Mastercard — at least, that is the design intent. The card can be added to a digital wallet “according to eligibility”, though the public pages do not name Apple Pay or Google Pay specifically. Some transactions classified as MoneySend by the processor are blocked, and the card pages do not publish a blocked merchant category list.
The cashback scheme is the part most cardholders will care about. Every tier pays “Satsback” in Bitcoin on card purchases, and crypto bought with the card is excluded from the reward. The rates are: Free 0%, Plus 0.5%, Pro 1%, Max 1.5%. On the prepaid card the Satsback is posted after settlement; on the credit card it is posted after the invoice is paid. A second, separate reward is paid in Bitcoin on the reais kept as guarantee for the credit card, at a percentage of the CDI (the Brazilian interbank rate): Free 75% of CDI, Plus 100% up to R$3,000 (90% above), Pro 110% up to R$5,000 (100% above), Max 115% up to R$5,000 (100% above), and only with an active card.
The app gets broadly positive company-reported ratings. As of 2026-10-20, Bipa’s company claim (which I have not independently verified) is an App Store rating of 4.8 and a Google Play rating of 4.7 from 20,000+ ratings and 300,000+ downloads.
The dispute process is described as follows: any transaction you do not recognise should be reported within five days. Stark Bank does a preliminary analysis, then a final analysis “within the period defined by Stark Bank” — the actual number of days is not stated. Online purchases carry a 7-day right of withdrawal. Bipa explicitly says it does not assume responsibility for the outcome of a dispute, and chargebacks reverse the Satsback that was paid on the disputed transaction.
A few practical implications. A 1.5% Bitcoin cashback on a Max plan, paid in satoshis, is real money but is also taxable in many jurisdictions when you eventually sell or spend the Bitcoin — and Bipa will not handle that side for you. A foreign transaction may go through on the credit card, but at an FX rate that the cardholder does not see in advance, which is the more important number to know than the cashback.
What can go wrong
The risks on a card like this fall into four buckets: the company, the issuer, your money, and the rules around identity. Bipa looks reasonable on the first two and thin on the third and fourth.
On the company side, Bipa Intermediação de Ativos Digitais LTDA was founded in 2020 in Brazil, describes itself as a payment institution and a VASP (virtual asset service provider) regulated by the Central Bank of Brazil, and lists Stark Bank S.A. Instituicao de Pagamento as the card issuer. The card issuer is also listed as BIPA Instituicao de Pagamento Ltda (CNPJ 40.910.463/0001-05) for the plans. The names are consistent with a real regulated stack rather than an anonymous operator, which is reassuring.
On the complaint side, the company has an unusual profile: a dedicated search for “Bipa card reclamações Reclame Aqui Trustpilot” did not turn up a Reclame Aqui or a Trustpilot page. The company claims a 4.8 rating from 26,000+ reviews on its own marketing, but I have not verified that figure. The absence of a complaint page is not the same as the absence of complaints — small Brazilian fintechs often have thin review footprints early on — but it is a reason to be cautious rather than confident.
On the security side, the card is issued by Stark Bank, has a PIN that locks after three wrong attempts (unlock in the app), and supports loss/theft reporting through support. Bipa and Stark Bank say they never ask for passwords. Funds that are misused by a third party are only Bipa’s responsibility after the block is requested. Custody insurance or specific insurance arrangements for the prepaid balance are not stated, and the pages I read do not describe what happens to your crypto if the operating company fails.
On the rules side, the standard KYC/AML risks apply. The sign-up flow is a selfie plus a document, and Bipa can ask for updated data later. False information leads to suspension and card cancellation, and a cardholder who triggered sanctions screening or was found to be a politically exposed person would likely face the kind of account freeze that is the rule rather than the exception in regulated crypto businesses. None of this is unique to Bipa — it is the industry baseline — but it is the reason a card like this is not the place to keep a life savings.
A few specific pitfalls to keep in mind:
- A foreign transaction on the prepaid card is not supported; only the credit-card variant works abroad, and only for travel and personal expenses. If you load the prepaid card and try to spend in another country, the transaction is likely to be declined.
- An FX rate that “may be higher or lower than the BCB average” is not a published number. On a big purchase that uncertainty is a real cost.
- A card-programme shutdown, while not a Bipa-specific risk, has happened in the industry (FTX, WaveCrest) and would in principle affect every cardholder. The warning signs are a named issuer that disappears, an unlicensed operator, or a programme sold to another company with no notice.
What to take instead
Bipa’s narrow eligibility makes the alternatives question more useful than usual, because if you cannot get a Bipa card, you have to look at cards that do publish an eligibility list. The three below are the ones I think are most worth comparing; their sub-scores come from the same review framework I use elsewhere, not from Bipa’s own materials.
- Sponge (4.9 / 10). A virtual card created by
createSpongeCardand described as a credit card issued by Rain, a Visa Principal Member, accepted wherever Visa is accepted. Country list and fee schedule are not stated on the page I read. Top-up is from a USDC balance held in the Sponge wallet, with funding on the Base chain (or Solana via the SDK). Rewards are not stated. If you already live inside the Sponge wallet and want a Visa card backed by USDC, this is the natural fit. - Nexo (6.3 / 10). A Mastercard virtual and physical card issued by DiPocket UAB, available to residents and citizens of “selected European countries, including the EEA and the United Kingdom” — the country list itself is not on the page, but the EEA/UK framing is clear. No monthly, annual or inactivity fee. The virtual card needs at least $50 in the account to activate; the physical card has free shipping but requires more than $5,000 in digital assets and at least Gold tier. FX fees on weekdays are 0.2% (EEA/UK/CH) and 2% (rest of world), and 0.7% and 2.5% on weekends. Cashback in NEXO or Bitcoin, by tier (Platinum 2%/0.5%, Gold 1%/0.3%, Silver 0.7%/0.2%, Base 0.5%/0.1%), paid only in Credit Mode and only if the account holds more than $5,000 in digital assets.
- Xplace (7.7 / 10). A Visa virtual and physical card with cash mode (spends stablecoin balance) and credit mode (borrows against holdings), accepted in 160+ countries. Annual fees are Basic free, Silver $99/y, Gold $249/y, Platinum $999/y. “0% FX on Platinum” is the only published FX figure; the other tiers’ FX and conversion fees are not stated. Top-up is on the Solana network in cbBTC, wETH, SOL, JitoSOL, USDC, USDT and xStocks. Credit-mode cashback is 0.5% / 1% / 1.5% / 2% by tier, paid in USDC. The catch is that the higher tiers cost real money, and only the virtual card and Silver physical card are confirmed live today; Gold and Platinum physical cards are listed as “coming soon” with delivery in 7–14 business days.
If you are choosing between these three, the question is what you are optimising for. Sponge is the wallet-native USDC experience. Nexo is the European, transparent-fee Mastercard with a meaningful cashback threshold. Xplace is the broader geographic coverage, with the trade-off that only its top tier shows an FX number. Bipa sits somewhere in the middle: a Brazilian product for a Brazilian audience, with a clear Bitcoin-cashback story and an opaque cost-of-use story.
Who I would recommend it to
If you live in Brazil, hold reais, have a Brazilian tax ID and want a single app that converts a small share of every purchase into Bitcoin, Bipa is a reasonable card to keep in your wallet. The plan structure is simple, the cashback is in the asset you actually want, and the company is a regulated Brazilian operator with a named issuer. The downsides you should price in are: you will not be able to use the prepaid card abroad, you will not see the FX rate in advance, and several fees (ATM, conversion, plan thresholds) are not stated on the public pages.
If you do not live in Brazil, Bipa is not the right card for you. The product is not built for you, the support is Portuguese-only, the address required for a physical card implies a Brazilian address, and the credit card is decided on Brazilian risk criteria. Look at Sponge, Nexo or Xplace instead, and use the alternatives section to pick the one that fits your country, your funding source and your tolerance for unstated fees.
In short: Bipa is a five-out-of-ten card for a non-Brazilian, and probably a seven-out-of-ten card for a Brazilian who already pays in reais. The 5.9 average I gave it reflects that split. The score is not a verdict on the product; it is a verdict on how well the product fits an international reader, which is the reader this page is written for.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Bipa card?
Bipa is a Brazilian app that offers a Mastercard prepaid and credit card (virtual and physical) with cashback paid in Bitcoin, plus a savings feature for reais called Cofrinho. The card is issued by Stark Bank S.A. Instituicao de Pagamento and the operating company is Bipa Intermediação de Ativos Digitais LTDA, founded in 2020.
How does the Bipa card work?
You load the prepaid card with Pix or supported crypto (Bitcoin on-chain or Lightning, USDT on Ethereum or Polygon, USDC, SOL, XRP, ETH), and the card pays a small percentage of every purchase back in Bitcoin. The credit variant is backed by reais kept as collateral and pays a higher rate of Satsback plus a separate reward on the collateral.
Is Bipa a bank?
No. Bipa is a Brazilian crypto and payments company (Bipa Intermediação de Ativos Digitais LTDA) that markets the card, and Stark Bank S.A. Instituicao de Pagamento is the licensed institution that actually issues the card. Bipa also lists BIPA Instituicao de Pagamento Ltda for the plans, but the brand itself is not a bank.
Is the Bipa card available in my country?
The card pages do not publish a country list. The product is built around Brazil: prices in reais, a Brazilian issuer, and credit decisions on Brazilian risk criteria. Treat Bipa as a Brazilian-resident product unless you hear otherwise from support.
How do I get a Bipa card?
Download the Bipa app, create an account, submit a selfie and an identity document, and wait for verification. The pages I read do not state processing times or a list of accepted documents.
Does the Bipa card require KYC?
Yes. Sign-up is a selfie plus a document, and Bipa says it can request updated registration data later. False information can lead to suspension and card cancellation. Specific accepted documents and processing times are not stated on the page I read.
How do I top up the Bipa card?
Use Pix for fiat, or send one of the supported cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin on-chain or Lightning, USDT on Ethereum or Polygon, USDC, SOL, XRP, ETH) to the address shown in the app. USDT on Solana is not accepted, and choosing the wrong network is a typical way to lose funds.
Is the Bipa card free?
There is a free plan (R$0 per month, called Free), but the physical card costs an unstated fee on Free and Plus and is free on Pro and Max. Several everyday costs (FX, conversion, ATM) are not stated on the public pages, so “free” really means “free to hold, and the rest is in the Tabela de Tarifas”.
How do I add the Bipa card to Apple Wallet or Google Pay?
The card pages say the card “may be enabled in digital wallets according to eligibility” but do not name Apple Pay or Google Pay specifically. Whether the card works in your specific wallet depends on the issuer’s support, the device and the country, and the best way to find out is to try it inside the app.
Is the Bipa card safe?
The card is issued by a named, regulated Brazilian payment institution and the operating company has been around since 2020. The card supports PIN locking, in-app freeze and standard 3-D Secure. Custody insurance is not stated, complaint pages on Reclame Aqui and Trustpilot were not found in my search, and as with any custodial product, holding a balance on the platform carries counterparty risk.
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