Gemini Credit Card review: A premier crypto credit card

The Blue Cash Everyday Card from American Express is one of the best cash back credit cards available because of its generous rewards rates and perks. You’ll earn a fair amount of cash back for everyday purchases, like those made at U.S. supermarkets and gas stations, plus you’ll earn boosted cash back for U.S. online retail purchases.

Although the Blue Cash Everyday card has higher fees than the Gemini Card, it also has no annual fee and a lower spending requirement for the same welcome offer. You’ll also be able to take advantage of over $250 worth of credits with the Blue Cash Everyday, one of which is an $84 Disney Bundle credit. The Gemini Card lacks perks like credits, which sometimes provide a fair bit of value to cardholders who take advantage of them.

Next to the Gemini card, the Crypto.com Rewards Visa Card is one of the only other cards out there that earns crypto rewards on everyday purchases. There are a few major differences between the two, however.

To start, the Crypto.com Rewards card is not a credit card — it’s a prepaid card. This means that in order to make purchases, you’ll need to top up your card balance by adding funds via your crypto wallet, an outside bank account or another credit or debit card. So if you need the payment flexibility of a credit card or want to build credit history, the Gemini card is the obvious choice.

The Crypto.com Rewards card also requires you to have a large crypto investment before you can earn rewards at a decent rate. You’ll need to lock up at least a few thousand dollars in Crypto.com’s utility token, Cronos (CRO), before you come close to the rewards rates available on the Gemini card.

For example, even a $5,000 CRO lockup would only get you a 3.5 percent CRO rewards rate on everyday purchases with the Crypto.com card. In contrast, the Gemini card earns 1 to 4 percent in different everyday categories with no such requirements. 

And while your Crypto.com Visa rewards rate can climb to 5, 6.5 or even 8 percent, unlocking those rates will require a CRO lockup in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. This makes the card impractical unless you’re already a crypto whale.

Next to the Gemini card, the Crypto.com Rewards Visa Card is one of the only other cards out there that earns crypto rewards on everyday purchases. There are a few major differences between the two, however.

To start, the Crypto.com Rewards card is not a credit card — it’s a prepaid card. This means that in order to make purchases, you’ll need to top up your card balance by adding funds via your crypto wallet, an outside bank account or another credit or debit card. So if you need the payment flexibility of a credit card or want to build credit history, the Gemini card is the obvious choice.

The Crypto.com Rewards card also requires you to have a large crypto investment before you can earn rewards at a decent rate. You’ll need to lock up at least a few thousand dollars in Crypto.com’s utility token, Cronos (CRO), before you come close to the rewards rates available on the Gemini card.

For example, even a $5,000 CRO lockup would only get you a 3.5 percent CRO rewards rate on everyday purchases with the Crypto.com card. In contrast, the Gemini card earns 1 to 4 percent in different everyday categories with no such requirements. 

And while your Crypto.com Visa rewards rate can climb to 5, 6.5 or even 8 percent, unlocking those rates will require a CRO lockup in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. This makes the card impractical unless you’re already a crypto whale.

You might want to consider the Gemini Card because it can be a great way to learn about a new investment method while maximizing rewards in a key, everyday spending category: gas.

The primary criteria for a rewards or cash back card’s rating is its rewards value. This includes the card’s average rewards rate, estimated annual rewards earnings, sign-up bonus value and reward redemption value.

To estimate a card’s average annual rewards earnings, we first calculate its average rewards rate based on how much it earns in different bonus categories and how closely its categories align with the average person’s spending habits, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

The most recent BLS data estimates average total spending in 2022 was $72,967 per consumer. We then narrow our focus to which purchases are likely to be put on a credit card and earn rewards, subtracting expenditures like housing, vehicle purchases and education. This gives us a total “chargeable” annual spend of around $22,500.  

Some of the major spending categories that contribute towards the annual spend include:

• Groceries: $5,700

• Dining out: $3,600

• Entertainment: $2,400

• Gas: $3,100

• Apparel and services: $1,900

Using this data, we assign a weighting to each of a card’s bonus categories. For example, a card’s grocery rewards rate receives a 22 percent weighting based on how much of the average person’s budget is spent on groceries. We also estimate the redemption value of points or miles from various issuer, airline and hotel rewards programs.

This weighting and rewards valuation allows us to estimate a card’s average annual rewards earnings — how many points or miles you’d earn with a given card if your spending was about average and you used the card for all of your purchases, as well as what those points are worth. We also use point valuations to determine a card’s sign-up bonus value.

With these calculations complete, we assign each card a score based on how its average rewards earnings, sign-up bonus value, rewards rate and redemption value stack up against other rewards cards.

We also rate cards based on how much it costs to keep them in your wallet or carry a balance. 

To start, each rewards or cash back card is scored based on whether it offers an intro APR and how its ongoing APR compares to the rates available on other rewards or cash back cards. 

We also score each card based on how its annual fee influences its overall value. 

We consider a card’s annual fee in two ways — how it ranks relative to the fees you’ll find on other cards in the category and how it impacts a card’s overall rewards value. Cards with an annual fee will always be at a slight disadvantage in our scoring system since annual fees inherently cut into your rewards value, but if a card offers terrific value via its ongoing rewards and perks, it can earn a high score even if it carries a high annual fee. 

With this in mind, we rate a card based primarily on how its ongoing rewards value and ongoing perk value (such as annual credits or bonuses) stack up against other cards in the category when you subtract its annual fee.

We rate each card’s flexibility based on the restrictions it imposes on earning and redeeming rewards and factor this rating into a card’s overall score. 

Flexibility factors include whether a card only allows you to earn a high rewards rate on a small amount of spending or requires you to meet a certain earning threshold before you can redeem rewards. We also examine whether your points are worth less when you redeem for some options versus others and whether a card gives you the flexibility to transfer rewards to airline and hotel partners.