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New Upgrade Bitcoin Rewards Card Earns 1.5% Back
Like other Upgrade cards, unpaid balances convert to a fixed-rate installment loan with equal monthly payments.
Many or all of the products on this page are from partners who compensate us when you click to or take an action on their website, but this does not influence our evaluations or ratings. Our opinions are our own.
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NerdWallet's content is fact-checked for accuracy, timeliness and relevance. It undergoes a thorough review process involving writers and editors to ensure the information is as clear and complete as possible.
Sara Rathner is a NerdWallet travel and credit cards expert. She has appeared on the “Today” show and CNBC’s “Nightly Business Report,” and has been quoted in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Yahoo Finance, Time, Reuters, NBC News, Business Insider and MarketWatch. Before joining NerdWallet, Sara worked at The Motley Fool for nearly 10 years. She also worked as a freelance personal finance writer and paraplanner and has a bachelor's degree in journalism from Northwestern University.
Erin is a former writer and assigning editor on the NerdWallet Content team who now heads NerdWallet's travel business. She's a credit card and travel rewards expert at NerdWallet, based in Baltimore, Maryland. She has spent nearly two decades showing readers unique ways to maximize their investments and personal finances. Prior to joining NerdWallet, Erin worked on dozens of newsletters and magazines in the areas of investing, health, business and travel with Agora Publishing. Her love of travel led to a passion for credit card and loyalty rewards to subsidize trips, and she thrives on teaching others how to harness the power of credit card rewards. When she's not helping NerdWallet readers find the best travel value, Erin is planning her next adventure for her family of four using points and miles.
As of July 2023, Upgrade is removing the Upgrade Bitcoin Rewards Visa® Credit Card from the market.
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The Upgrade Bitcoin Rewards Visa® Credit Card: How it works
As you make payments on purchases, bitcoin will be purchased on your behalf and held in a wallet provided by NYDIG, a custody and trading platform. Your bitcoin cannot be transferred to a separate wallet.
When you sell your bitcoin, you'll pay a 1.5% transaction fee. But you can only receive the proceeds in the form of a statement credit. That means bitcoin rewards can only be used toward purchases you make on the card.
There are some geographic restrictions to note: As of this writing, the Upgrade Bitcoin Rewards Visa® Credit Card is not available in Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin or Washington, D.C.
Like its predecessors — the Upgrade Cash Rewards Visa® and Upgrade Triple Cash Rewards Visa® — the $0-annual-fee Upgrade Bitcoin Rewards Visa® Credit Card functions as a credit card/personal loan hybrid product. Any balance you carry is automatically converted to a fixed-rate installment plan ranging from 24 to 60 months. The ongoing APR is 14.99%-29.99%, and credit lines can range from $500 to $25,000.
See more from Upgrade
Upgrade Select Visa®:
Credit Lines feature Annual Percentage Rates (APRs) of 14.99% - 29.99% and line amounts ranging from $500 - $25,000 based on creditworthiness. The lowest rates require Autopay and the majority of line amounts will be $15,000 or under. For example, a $1,000 card purchase with a 36 month term and a 19.99% APR has a monthly payment of $37.55. Optional cash transfers to your bank account and balance transfers are subject to a fee of up to 5% of each draw or transfer. Foreign transactions are subject to a fee of up to 3% per transaction. ATM withdrawal fees may apply. If incurred, these fees will increase your finance charge and APR. A late fee of up to $29 per late payment may apply. Your rate, line amount, and default term depend on maintaining a qualifying credit score, your credit usage history, requested amount, and other factors. The Upgrade Card is unique in that it allows you to obtain a series of closed-end loans which you may access through transactions such as card purchases up to your approved amount. As you repay your balance, additional credit may become available to you up to an approved amount subject to meeting our credit requirements, but your line will not replenish automatically.
Upgrade Life Rewards Card:
*By paying off your statement balance in full by the EarlyPay payment date, which is two calendar days after your statement closing date, you will avoid daily interest on any new transactions until the following EarlyPay payment date. Refer to your Personal Credit Line Agreement for EarlyPay terms and information. If the balance is not paid in full by the EarlyPay payment date, daily interest will begin to accrue after the Early Pay payment date for past and new transactions. To maintain good standing on your account, you must make at least the required monthly payment by the monthly payment due date, which is 22 calendar days after the statement closing date. You may pay down your full balance at any time to stop further interest charges.
Credit Lines feature Annual Percentage Rates (APRs) of 14.99% - 29.99% and line amounts ranging from $500 - $25,000 based on creditworthiness. The lowest rates require Autopay and the majority of line amounts will be $15,000 or under. For example, a $1,000 card purchase with a 36 month term and a 19.99% APR has a monthly payment of $37.55. Optional cash transfers to your bank account and balance transfers are subject to a fee of up to 5% of each draw or transfer. Foreign transactions are subject to a fee of up to 3% per transaction. ATM withdrawal fees may apply. If incurred, these fees will increase your finance charge and APR. A late fee of up to $29 per late payment may apply. Your rate, line amount, and default term depend on maintaining a qualifying credit score, your credit usage history, requested amount, and other factors. The Upgrade Card is unique in that it allows you to obtain a series of closed-end loans which you may access through transactions such as card purchases up to your approved amount. As you repay your balance, additional credit may become available to you up to an approved amount subject to meeting our credit requirements, but your line will not replenish automatically.
All Upgrade cards:
To qualify for the welcome bonus, you must open and fund a new Rewards Checking Plus account through Upgrade and make 3 qualifying debit card transactions from your Rewards Checking Plus account within 60 days of the date the Rewards Checking Plus account is opened. If you have previously opened a checking account through Upgrade or do not open a Rewards Checking Plus account as part of this application process, you are not eligible for this welcome bonus offer. Your Upgrade Card and Rewards Checking Plus account must be open and in good standing to receive a bonus. To qualify, debit card transactions must have settled and exclude ATM transactions. Please refer to the applicable Upgrade Visa® Debit Card Agreement and Disclosures for more information. Welcome bonus offers cannot be combined, substituted, or applied retroactively. The bonus will be applied to your Rewards Checking Plus account as a one-time payout credit within 60 days after meeting the conditions. This one-time bonus is available through this Upgrade Card offer and may not be available for other Upgrade Card offers.
There are multiple versions of the Upgrade card, which are mostly identical except for their rewards programs. Learn more about the options and find out which Upgrade is best for you here.
Who can get the Upgrade Bitcoin Rewards Visa® Credit Card?
The card is available to eligible applicants right now, with no need to sign up for a waitlist. Other crypto-earning credit cards, like the Gemini Credit Card®, are only accepting potential applicants via waitlist.
Whether you want to pay less interest or earn more rewards, the right card's out there. Just answer a few questions and we'll narrow the search for you.
