Request Finance

Verdict

Start with the status: as of Summer 2026, Request Finance’s card program is temporarily suspended. New cards cannot be created, card transactions are unavailable, and existing cards can’t be used until services are restored. The company says its card provider is winding down, so everything below describes the documented product as it stood before the pause, and as it may relaunch.

This was never a consumer rewards card. It’s a virtual Mastercard built for company expenses, a way for crypto-native finance teams to spend USDC on software, advertising and travel without off-ramping to a bank. There is no cashback. There’s no card-specific fee, but you reach the card only through a Request Finance subscription that runs from $42 to $1,040 a month. Your balance sits with a regulated partner, Kulipa, not with Request Finance.

Rewards: there is no program

Request Finance does not publish a rewards rate because there is no rewards or cashback program on this card. It’s a spend card: you fund it with USDC at a 1:1 rate, and every $1 spent equals 1 USDC. If you’re shopping for points or crypto-back, this isn’t that product. The value is spending stablecoins your company already holds, not earning on them.

Fees: none on the card, but the platform isn’t free

On the card itself, Request Finance lists no additional fees: no top-up fees (converted 1:1, USD to USDC), no spending fees, no setup fees, no monthly per-card fees, and no extra FX fees — it uses Mastercard exchange rates. There’s also no hidden fee for declined payments, refunds or reversals.

The catch is access. Cards are bundled into the Request Finance subscription, which runs from $42 to $1,040 a month billed annually. So the card is “free,” but only inside a paid platform. At the business-account level, USDC top-ups are free while USDT top-ups cost 0.30%.

Custody: a regulated partner holds the money

This is custodial, not self-custody. Request Finance provides the interface and card management tools but “does not hold customer funds.” Your balance is held in a wallet powered by Kulipa, an e-money distributor based in France, on managed-wallet infrastructure from Privy (part of Stripe), with private keys stored in AWS KMS — so you don’t hold the keys.

Funds are kept in segregated accounts, “never pooled with other customers’ funds or with Kulipa’s own operational funds.” The suspension notice reiterates that card-account funds “remain safe and are separate from the card infrastructure.” No specific Mastercard issuing bank is named beyond Kulipa.

Availability: companies only, and not everywhere

These are virtual cards for registered businesses, not individuals — your company completes KYB verification first, and cards are treated as a regulated financial service in early access. They can’t be added to Apple Pay or Google Pay yet; support is planned for later in 2026.

Geography is the big gate. Companies in a published restricted list can’t use the cards — notably the United States (support planned in late 2026), plus Australia, Singapore, the UAE, New Zealand, Philippines, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam (all planned late 2026), and China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Russia, South Korea and others.

Who it is for

Skip it for now: with the program suspended, no one can get a new card today. Watch it if you’re a crypto-native company — ideally outside the restricted countries — that holds USDC and wants team cards with per-card limits, instant freeze or cancel, approval workflows, and QuickBooks, Xero or NetSuite reconciliation, all reviewed alongside your other spend. If you want cashback, a physical card, mobile wallets, or a personal card, look elsewhere.