Head to head
Kast vs Avici
Both cards run on the same benchmark test, so this compares deducted cost rather than advertised rates.
| Metric | Ka Kast | Av Avici |
|---|---|---|
| Overall rank | #8 of 13 | #13 of 13 |
| Gross FX spread | 7.93% | 1.15% |
| Net cost on test | $1.60, expensive on small tickets | N/A |
| Base cashback | 1.5%, locked for 14 days | 0 |
| Custody | Custodial | Non-Custodial |
| Virtual card | $2 | $15 once off/ $30 yearly premium |
| Physical card | ~$40 + delivery | Physical Platinum is $50; Physical Signature is $75 |
| Spend limit | Unlimited daily purchases | Undisclosed |
| ATM withdrawals | $3 flat + 2% of the withdrawal | $1 Fee + 0.65 |
| Setup time | ~10 minutes | ~10 minutes |
| KYC steps | 6 | 4 |
| Score | 6.3/10 | 5/10 |
Kast
Kast works if you spend heavily in USD or move large amounts on Solana. For daily small-ticket ZAR spending, coffee, groceries, the flat low-transaction fee makes it one of the most expensive cards you could use in South Africa.
Avici
Avici functions as a self-custodial secured Visa credit card rather than a traditional direct-spend debit card. You must lock USDC into a smart contract to access an equivalent USD credit line. While the underlying account abstraction technology is excellent for security, the steep physical card issuance fees and reported hidden spreads on top-ups make it a heavily restrictive option compared to standard crypto debit cards.
Who ranks these cards
I'm Tristyn Pawson, founder of ConsistenC.xyz. Over the last five years I've worked on marketing, development and growth across five crypto cards and neobanks, building at least three of them from scratch.
Alongside that I've run in-depth research on 20+ crypto banks to understand what actually makes someone keep a card in their wallet. These rankings reflect that: which problems are tolerable, and which ones are genuine deal breakers.
- Years in market
- 5
- Cards built on
- 5
- Neobanks researched
- 20+