Coinbase (COIN) and Cardless unveil credit card backed by stablecoins

Cardless, a firm that has facilitated credit cards for brands like Qatar Airways and Alibaba, said it developed a payment card in conjunction with crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) for stablecoin holders who are unable to obtain one through traditional channels.

The Coinbase stablecoin-secured product is for situations where a regular credit card cannot be approved on an unsecured basis, but the applicant holds digital assets on the exchange, said Cardless co-founder Michael Spelfogel. Some of their stablecoin holdings are set aside as collateral against the debt.

“People apply from all different parts of the credit spectrum,” Spelfogel said in an interview. “There are some people that want to use this method because they believe in cryptocurrency, but they’re just beginning their journeys and accumulating wealth.”

Cardholders, who pay $49.99 for the privilege, still earn yield on their sequestered USDC holdings, Spelfogel said.

The product builds on a partnership that started in September, when the firms introduced a Coinbase-branded card in association with American Express (AXP). That card offered up to 4% cashback in bitcoin BTC$63,271.85. Cardless declined to say how many of the cards have been issued.

Traditional credit programs are slow-moving, rigid systems designed around banks that left billions on the table because companies never had the tools to design credit on their own terms, according to Cardless.