Last year I was terribly deceived by the bank: when applying for the card, they said 'lifetime no annual fee', but they charged me 12 yuan 'account management fee' every month, totaling 144 yuan a year! I was so angry that I directly closed the account. Last month I researched the Solayer Emerald Card, focusing on two words: fees.
The truth about the Emerald Card's fees: Opening fee: As an ordinary user, I paid 75 USD (painful! But I heard public sale users get it for free, unfortunately, I missed out).
Annual fee: There won't be an annual charge that hard-presses me every year.
Cost of using money: depositing USDC incurs a 1% fee (1 USD deducted from 100 USD), each card transaction is 0.15 USD. International transactions incur additional charges.
But the key is in the 'earning' part: the USDC deposited automatically converts to sUSD, earning a 4% annual yield (backed by U.S. Treasury).
I spend about 1000 USD on daily expenses each month, and the total card transaction fees are approximately 1.5 USD.
I keep 2000 USD sUSD in my account earning interest, with monthly interest approximately 6.6 USD (annualized 4%).
Rough calculation: interest income 6.6 USD - card fees 1.5 USD = net profit of 5.1 USD/month
At the end of the year, after offsetting the fees with interest, I still made over 60 USD! This doesn't even count the airdrop activities (like the last $CHAOS where I earned 20 USD) and the Emerald Card discounts (I used the 10% from Nansen).
Compared to the bank's 'free' card: Bank: pays **144 yuan management fee (≈20 USD) every year, interest? Negligible.
Emerald Card: I paid a 75 USD 'entry fee' to open the card, but **thanks to interest and activities, I can break even and even make a profit within a year**, and the payment experience is much faster (binding Apple Pay for iced Americano is instant, while the bank app sometimes lags).
Personal conclusion: The Solayer Emerald Card is not a 'free lunch', the opening fee is not low. However, it lays the costs out in the open, relying on tangible benefits (sUSD 4%) and perks that give you a chance to cover or even exceed costs. Plus, the payment experience is indeed smooth (backed by Solayer's unlimited hardware acceleration to handle traffic), which is more transparent for someone like me who hates hidden charges. Is it worth it? It depends on your spending frequency and willingness to hustle.
