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Head-to-head · Crypto Cards

ether.fi Cash vs Zeal ether.fi Cash leads by 30 points.

ether.fi Cash scores 30 points above Zeal, led by cost abroad, card reliability, and tax on spending. ether.fi Cash ranks #1 and Zeal #8 of 9 published crypto cards. Every term of the gap is on the ledger below; the inputs are on the audit receipt.

ether.fi Cash79
Zeal49
Scores are out of 100; published scores fall within 41–99 · ranks #1 and #8 of 9
Methodology v2026.10.18Ranking snapshot Evidence verified through 4 published criteria5 score dimensions Receipt #cc-VS-ETHER-FI-CASH-VS-ZEAL-4ee7234f
Published verdictRanking snapshot 3 November 2026

ether.fi Cash leads by 30 points

ether.fi Cash scores 30 points above Zeal, led by cost abroad, card reliability, and tax on spending.

ether.fi Cash #1 of 979
Zeal #8 of 949
Scores are out of 100; published scores fall within 41–99; a bar is empty at 41 and full at 99.
Why, term by termether.fi Cash leads on 3 of 4 published criteria; Zeal on 1. The terms sum to the gap.
Termether.fi CashZealWeightPoints
Cost abroad8/105/107.9+6.2for ether.fi Cash+3.2 of 32
Card reliability7/105/106.2+3.2for ether.fi Cash+1.7 of 32
Named issuer4/106/105−2.6for Zeal−1.3 of 32
Tax on spending8/102/104.8+7.5for ether.fi Cash+3.8 of 32
AvailabilityScore dimension12620+15.6for ether.fi Cash
Net of the terms+29.9
Reproduced gap+29.9
Published gapAfter score rounding and bounds — see the note below7949+30.0

Weight is in points of the 86-point weighted total. Points are score points of the gap between the two.

Quick facts

At a glance

1 of 3 rows read the same for both.
Factether.fi CashZeal
PricingSnapshotFrom the Fee Schedule the cardholder agreement incorporates by reference, https://help.ether.fi/en/articles/303623-what-are-the-transaction-limits-and-fees-for-personal-cash-credit-cards (HTTP 200, fetched 28 September 2026, dateModified 17 September 2026): "Where a transaction requires a currency conversion, ether.fi applies the prevailing FX base rate (~1%) and may add a foreign exchange margin on top of that base rate." | "The added FX fee is charged in addition to the underlying FX base rate and is reflected in the converted amount applied to the transaction." | "Membership Level" / "Added FX fee": "Core" "0-0.5%", "Luxe" "0-0.25%", "Pinnacle" "None", "VIP" "None" | ATM withdrawals, the same row for Core, Luxe and Pinnacle: "$1000 per transaction. Maximum of five(5) ATM withdrawals in any rolling 24 hour period ($5,000 total)." (the August row allowed half as much per transaction and three withdrawals a day) | "The Visa FX calculator provides indicative rates, but the final settlement rate can differ due to intermediary bank fees, network adjustments, or timing differences in how Visa processes the refund." The binding International agreement (https://etherfi.gitbook.io/etherfi/legal/ether.fi-legal/ether.fi-cash-cardholder-agreement-inc.-international.md, "Last Modified: September 8, 2026"): "This includes a base 1% foreign transaction fee ("FX Base Rate"). For Core tier members, the fee is up to an additional 50bps on top of the FX Base Rate. For Luxe tier members, the fee is up to an additional 25bps on top of the FX Base Rate." Cost of reaching the lower-markup tiers (https://help.ether.fi/en/articles/303625-how-do-membership-levels-work, dateModified 21 September 2026): Luxe by "5K pts" a month, "$15K" deposited into Liquid, "30K ETHFI" staked, or "$199/yr"; Pinnacle by "25K pts", "$100K", "150K ETHFI" or "$999/yr". Physical card (https://help.ether.fi/en/articles/776152-membership-level-benefits, dateModified 27 September 2026): Core "Free; shipping fee applies". Borrow Mode credit (https://help.ether.fi/en/articles/326983-understanding-your-cash-card-borrow-mode-vs-direct-pay-mode, "August 20, 2026"): "variable APY, set by the underlying lending market for each asset (borrowing runs through Aave v4 markets) — not a fixed rate"; the fixed APY quoted in August is gone. NOT PUBLISHED, cited to the page that should carry it: the per-withdrawal ATM fee at Core and Luxe (the membership-benefits page lists ATM withdrawals as "Available" at Core and Luxe and "Free, up to 10 withdrawals per month" at Pinnacle and VIP, naming no charge) and the Core shipping fee.From https://www.zeal.app/ (HTTP 200, fetched 28 September 2026), footnote 2 in the FOR CARD block, the closest thing Zeal publishes to a price for spending: "When spending in another currency with the Gnosis Pay card, Visa's wholesale foreign exchange rate is used, which is a very competitive exchange rate. The rate is subject to change and will fluctuate. Zeal does not charge any additional foreign exchange fees. Other fees and charges from Gnosis Pay, such as ATM withdrawal fees, may apply as per their documentation." Headline on the same page: "Spend abroad with no exchange fees and up to 4% Cashback." and "Spend abroad at the Visa mid-market rate". Card acquisition, https://www.zeal.app/learn/order-your-free-card (fetched 28 September 2026): "Order card for free". Cashback tier cost, https://www.zeal.app/learn/gnosis-pay-explained (fetched 28 September 2026, dated 20 November 2025): "0.1 to 1 GNO (~€10-110): 0.5-1% cashback", "5.5 GNO (~€605): 2.5% cashback", "Currently, one GNO token costs around €100-110." ZEAL PUBLISHES NO FEE SCHEDULE, although its terms (https://www.zeal.app/terms-and-conditions/, "Last updated: 19 February 2026") say "Fees applicable to the Services or any component of the Services, if any, shall be set forth at zeal.app and/or the Zeal Wallet mobile application." The ATM fee is delegated by link to https://help.gnosispay.com/en/articles/8663251-fees-and-limits, which still returned HTTP 404 on 28 September 2026.
Asset coverageEditorial——
Region fitSnapshotus, europe, asiaeurope
From the published criteria

Which should you pick?

ether.fi Cash

79#1 of 9
Leads
Pick it when
Pick ether.fi Cash if cost abroad matters most — it scores 8/10 to Zeal's 5/10 there (weight 33).
Strength
Swipe cost abroad — 8/10
Tradeoff
The added FX margin falls to 0-0.25% at Luxe and to 'None' only at Pinnacle and VIP; on 2026-09-28 the levels page sold Luxe for '$199/yr' and Pinnacle for '$999/yr', beside points, Liquid-deposit and staking routes, the stake now '30K ETHFI' / '150K ETHFI' — a price-volatile position that itself carries only a 20% LTV and a 50% liquidation threshold as collateral. So the buyer who stakes rather than pays takes on a token position that can fall while they hold it, and the ETHFI they stake to make the card cheaper is tied for the worst collateral in ether.fi's own table. Underneath that: at Core and Luxe — the two tiers essentially everyone starts in — ether.fi publishes ATM limits but never publishes the ATM fee, while explicitly marking ATM withdrawals as 'Free' only at Pinnacle and VIP. The one cost the fee page will not name is the one it prices for someone else.

Zeal

49#8 of 9
Pick it when
Pick Zeal if named issuer matters most — it scores 6/10 to ether.fi Cash's 4/10 there (weight 21).
Strength
Whose licence issues it — 6/10
Tradeoff
The buyer cannot find out what an ATM withdrawal costs before signing up, and Zeal's own footnote sends them to a dead page to find out. 'Other fees and charges from Gnosis Pay, such as ATM withdrawal fees, may apply as per their documentation' links to https://help.gnosispay.com/en/articles/8663251-fees-and-limits, which returned HTTP 404 on 2026-08-17. The FX headline is genuinely good — Zeal adds no markup and names the Visa rate it sits on — but that is the one leg it prices. Everything else about the cost of this card (ATM percentage, ATM flat fee, free allowance, physical card price) is left to someone else's documentation, and the fees article Zeal links to for it returned HTTP 404 again on 2026-09-28.
Self-identify in 10 seconds

Which one is actually for you?

ether.fi CashLeads

Choose ether.fi Cash if cost abroad matters most

  • Cost abroad: 8/10 against 5/10 for Zeal (weight 33)
  • Card reliability: 7/10 against 5/10 for Zeal (weight 26)
  • Tax on spending: 8/10 against 2/10 for Zeal (weight 20)
Zeal

Choose Zeal if named issuer matters most

  • Named issuer: 6/10 against 4/10 for ether.fi Cash (weight 21)
Criterion by criterion

Scorecard

Published criteria · weight in points of 868 of 8 cells scored. Strength is read from the evidence file; the weight is the published one. Methodology

Cost abroad

by 3 of 10weight 7.9 of 86ether.fi Cash leads
ether.fi Cash8 out of 10
Zeal5 out of 10

Card reliability

by 2 of 10weight 6.2 of 86ether.fi Cash leads
ether.fi Cash7 out of 10
Zeal5 out of 10

Named issuer

by 2 of 10weight 5 of 86Zeal leads
ether.fi Cash4 out of 10
Zeal6 out of 10

Tax on spending

by 6 of 10weight 4.8 of 86ether.fi Cash leads
ether.fi Cash8 out of 10
Zeal2 out of 10

Score dimensions

weights sum to 86

The published score is five dimensions, each weighted for the category. "Published criteria" is the criteria block above; the other four are the engine's own terms — availability, friction, trust record, measured data. Each bar is one side's points out of that dimension's maximum; the weight beside the name is its points of the 86-point weighted total. The published criteria above can fill 24 of the block’s 30. A weight marked “constant here” belongs to a dimension every ranked product in the category holds at the same value: it still counts in the total, and it orders nothing here.

Availabilityweight 20 of 86
ether.fi Cash12/20Zeal6/20
ether.fi Cash leads
Published criteriaweight 30 of 86
ether.fi Cash16.6/30Zeal11.1/30
ether.fi Cash leads
Frictionweight 10 of 86 · constant here
ether.fi Cash2.7/10Zeal2.7/10
Tie
Trust recordweight 8 of 86 · constant here
ether.fi Cash3.2/8Zeal3.2/8
Tie
Measured dataweight 18 of 86 · constant here
ether.fi Cash8.3/18Zeal8.3/18
Tie
Decision rulePublished order

Choose ether.fi Cash unless the term Zeal leads on is the one you are buying.

Pick Zeal if named issuer matters most — it scores 6/10 to ether.fi Cash's 4/10 there (weight 21).

The published order weighs every criterion the same way for everyone. To weigh them your way, run .

From the published order

Next best action

If this isn't your case

Other matchups worth comparing

How you can lose money here, and what the ranking scores
  • Regulatory failure: no licence where you are, or a forced market exit.
    Scored by Whose licence is actually behind this card, and will they even tell me their name? · 21% (ether.fi Cash 4/10, Zeal 6/10)
    Scored by Does buying a coffee create a taxable disposal, and will they hand me the record? · 20% (ether.fi Cash 8/10, Zeal 2/10)
  • Exit failure: you cannot get out at par, on time, or with what is yours.
    Scored by Will this card still work next month, and who has to fail for it to stop? · 26% (ether.fi Cash 7/10, Zeal 5/10)
Not assessed by this ranking: Control failure, Liveness failure, Custody failure, Insolvency failure, Execution failure, Information failure. A high place says nothing about these; the Methodology tab says what each means.
Also scored, as cost, quality or a summary of several families: What does one swipe abroad actually cost me, and can I work that out before I sign up? (33%).
Questions

Frequently asked questions

ether.fi Cash scores 30 points above Zeal, led by cost abroad, card reliability, and tax on spending. Published scores, out of 100: ether.fi Cash 79 (rank 1 of 9 crypto cards), Zeal 49 (rank 8 of 9).

Related pages

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Written and reviewed by Founder
Reviewed Next review by Methodology v2026.10.18
How this page is reviewed

Reviewed means both products compared here was read against its sources on or after that date; every ranked category is re-read at least every 45 days. Models research, extract and parse. A deterministic engine ranks. Every quote passes an adversarial refute pass.

Accountable for this review: Mathias Siemonsmeier, Founder.

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