🔥Author | Wu talks about blockchain🔥
The content of this article is a comprehensive compilation of general information and does not reflect Wu Sho's opinions, nor does it offer any investment advice. Readers are requested to fully comply with local laws and regulations and refrain from engaging in any illegal financial activities.
In early June, the founder of Infini was still promoting the U Card in an interview, but just a few days later, the company suddenly announced its closure, sparking significant discussion:
On the afternoon of June 17, Infini suddenly announced that it had decided to suspend the Infini card service. From now on, the use and application of new Global and Lite and Tech cards will be suspended. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this decision may cause. Core functions such as recharging, withdrawals, and earning income will not be affected, and your assets are safe and under control. To properly handle this change, we will automatically refund the card opening fees that users actually paid (after deducting any form of deduction) to your Infini account balance for all users who applied for the card but were affected. The card opening fees will be added to your account within 10 business days without the need for manual action. Current refunds will be returned to your Infini account, and are expected to be completed within 5-21 business days. The security of your funds will not be affected.
Joneshu, co-founder of Infini, explained: "Infini will no longer conduct C card operations. The reason is the high cost of compliance, low profits, and operational intensity. Currently, C card operations consume 99% of time and costs, contributing no income. Financial management and asset management have become the focus. The current pathway for Crypto cards is to exit from USDT and USDC, then achieve the payment path from stablecoins to fiat currencies through a traditional payment network. It is extremely complicated, very lengthy, and very expensive. Without support, it is difficult to match the rate and cashback of web2. The U card is not the optimal solution for web3 payments using stablecoins. Currently, Infini is a centralized product, and we will fully adopt decentralization in the future. Consider adopting decentralized payment solutions. Certainly, do not follow the old path of centralization.
The princess also talked about consulting with OneKey when developing the U card, but she did not expect the final result to be similar to OneKey. The OneKey hardware wallet also launched the U card, but it suddenly suspended the service.
There are also speculations about the service shutdown, which is related to the recent bewildcard incident. WildCard is a platform focused on providing virtual credit card services, enabling users to easily register and subscribe to external services. The platform has particularly improved the OpenAI user experience, including automatic registration and upgraded ChatGPT Plus functionalities. It is rumored that the platform is under investigation.
Christian, the founder of Infini, presented the features of the Infini card in the latest fields, including: Infini Card has always focused on serving the public and individual investors. This is also the original goal when we were founded. Unlike the cryptocurrency card designed for VIPs launched by the exchange, our card is more accessible and effective for ordinary users. The cryptocurrency card itself is an "undervalued" product, but we always insist on starting from the user's perspective to improve the experience. The fee structure is transparent and highly competitive. Especially concerning the US dollar standard, the current card transaction fee is one thousand US dollars (i.e., 0.1%), the lowest in the entire market. In the future, we also plan to further reduce costs by optimizing methods and maintaining long-term pricing advantages. One of our key differentiators is providing a balance income function on the card, which is rare in the market. Many users keep some U (USDT) coins on the card for daily use, and we provide current income for financial management to hedge against the losses from consumption. These profits come from the strategies we build that have shown excellent performance in actual tests. Some of these strategies are unique solutions difficult to find on other decentralized finance platforms. We are also willing to make them available to users to share.
@knowyourself518 tweeted that internal reporting fines could far exceed licensing costs, and that hefty fines could end operations; and if the ambiguity of fund flows across the chain (such as proof of source of funds) is added, compliance costs will rise significantly. There are countless instances of U card misuse by fraud gangs, but the platform lacks the ability to generate "contract fees" for exchanges, and is forced to directly bear the risks of individual investors, exposing it to long-term operational problems.
The harshest reality is that the card institution/main bank will transfer all penalties for anti-money laundering breaches to the card issuer, with deposit deductions in the mildest cases and license cancellations in the worst cases—while the intermediary only collects the funds. Buying a bank is futile. If the card institution is unhappy with the fine, the bank will be subject to the penalty. If the fine is not paid, Visa/Mastercard will be ousted, so buying a bank does not solve the underlying problem. The actual cost borne by users is much more than the 1-2% transaction fees: card opening fees, exchange losses, recharging friction... The average true industry rate without support is 3-5%. Compared to the handling fee advantage of traditional credit card giants (Visa/MC) under huge turnover, the U card lacks competitiveness in small amount scenarios. Without significant support, ordinary users will not pay for it at all. The cryptocurrency card is a low-profit project that requires a large amount of capital and asset accumulation to achieve profitability. It also requires massive resources, but as the scale of operations expands, compliance costs and operational costs will rise significantly. Therefore, overall, expansion is essential, and it is best to have synergy with the main business.
It is worth noting that card institutions, major banks, and payment channel providers collect fees and fines, while startups bear all operational risks (such as asset management failures, regulatory fines, and fraud losses). This essentially becomes a gamble for compliance arbitrators to earn profits from risky Web3 capital. Therefore, U Card is not a successful project. Payment itself is not very profitable, and C funding with strong compliance features is not easy for startup teams.
Despite Infini's announcement of its withdrawal, the U card market still attracts significant interest. On March 14, 2025, Redut Pay announced the successful completion of a $40 million Series A funding round led by Lightspeed. After commitments in December 2024, HSG and Galaxy Ventures made significant investments. This funding round also included DST Global Partners, Accel, Vertex Ventures (a Temasek-backed venture capital firm), and other investors.
At the "State of Cryptocurrency" conference in June, Coinbase announced that it would launch the "Coinbase One Card" credit card in partnership with American Express, offering Bitcoin consumption rewards and storage rewards. The company also collaborated with Shopify and Stripe to expand USDC payments, allowing stablecoins to transition from on-chain trading to physical consumption.
@portal_kay dismantled the origins of the U card, including card institutions, banking identification number (BIN) providers, card issuers, card program managers, fiat and crypto bankers, card production service providers, and technology integration. In the U card ecosystem (virtual credit card or payment tool), partnerships are clearly divided into early stages and final stages, including the following roles: card institutions (such as Visa and MasterCard) as the first stage, formulating rules, building a global payment and clearing network, and assigning banking identification numbers (BIN) (the first 6 digits of the card number) to licensed financial institutions. BIN providers (such as Evolve Bank and Railsr) are licensed banks or payment institutions responsible for applying for and managing BINs, reviewing cooperation qualifications, allowing project parties to issue cards, and assisting in supervision and settlement. Card issuers (such as REAP and Airwallex) create user card accounts, implement compliance procedures for KYC/KYT rules, host fiat currencies, manage transaction clearing, and usually do not directly manage cryptocurrencies. Card program managers (such as Bybit Card and Bitget Card) form the core of the U Card project; they are responsible for product design, user operations, API development, risk management strategies, and KYC procedures with card issuers, coordinating marketing with card institutions. Crypto fiat exchanges (such as MoonPay and Circle) manage on-chain asset exchanges and fiat currencies, such as converting users' USDT top-ups into US dollars and depositing them into escrow accounts. Finally, card production service providers and technology integration (such as IDEMIA and G+D) provide manufacturing of physical cards or integration of APIs for virtual cards, supporting connections with e-wallets like Google Pay and Apple Pay, and modern BaaS companies provide SDK integration solutions. All roles work closely together to support the operation and compliance of U Card.
The compliance risk remains the biggest obstacle for U cards. FinTax indicated that using U cards also requires attention to many legal risks. For example, in some countries with strict foreign exchange management, although U cards do not set a maximum limit for personal deposits and withdrawals, the outflow of funds exceeding the foreign exchange quota will also affect foreign exchange management regulations. If discovered by the foreign exchange management authority, it could lead to administrative fines or even criminal charges. For instance, the legal status of cryptocurrencies remains unclear in some countries, and some countries completely ban the use of cryptocurrencies. Currently, using U cards for cryptocurrency transactions may also be considered illegal. Therefore, before using U cards, users must understand the basic compliance requirements for the countries and regions they are in. Additionally, users should not use U cards as a tool for illegal activities. For example, if a U card user conducts high-frequency and high-value transactions or assists others in cashing out funds, it will also be considered illegal operations or money laundering activities and face criminal penalties.
With the support of anonymity or fewer real-name requirements, some users hope to evade taxes through U cards, such as using U cards to hide income sources, thereby reducing the amount of tax due. However, this tax evasion through U cards is practically impossible. First, although U cards have a certain degree of anonymity, most U cards still rely on international payment networks (Visa, Mastercard, etc.). These payment networks log every transaction in detail, including the transaction amount, merchant information, transaction time, etc. Therefore, tax authorities can still trace related fund flows through these transaction records. Secondly, for cross-border transactions, tax authorities can also track cross-border capital flows through foreign exchange monitoring systems, banking information exchange, and other means. Many countries have signed the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), and cross-border capital flows are relatively transparent. In this way, tax authorities can also obtain transaction information related to U cards. Finally, in actual usage, payment platforms may also conduct rigorous real-name reviews for large transactions. If users are involved in large and frequent capital flows, the platform may request additional information, such as proof of the legitimacy of the source of funds. Therefore, tax evasion through U cards is practically impossible and may lead to audits and tax penalties.
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