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Card comparison · August 2026

Kite vs KAST

Free to get, free to keep, one published FX rate, and nine countries you can check before you download anything. KAST prices its FX as a range, publishes no country list, and holds your balance for you.

Get the Kite app See the full comparison

Knowing what you will actually payKiteKAST

Card and annual feesFree$0 - $10,000

Non-USD spend1.8%0.5 - 1.75%

Country listPublishedNot published

Who holds itYou doTheir partners

No card fees Virtual and physical 0.53% to load Non-custodial Gas covered 40+ countries for payments

The short answer

Kite vs KAST: the short answer

Both start free. KAST’s better rates sit behind $1,000 and $10,000 a year.

KAST prices foreign spending as a range, 0.5% to 1.75%. Kite is one number: 1.8%.

KAST’s cashback is real and published. Ours is coming, and we will not quote a rate we do not have yet.

KAST publishes no country list. Kite names nine for the card and 40+ more for payments.

Side by side

Kite vs KAST: fees and features compared

This compares the virtual card on each side, so the two columns are like for like. Every figure comes from KAST's own site and help centre on 31 August 2026, and from Kite's. Nothing here is estimated, and ATM withdrawals are left out because they need a physical card.

	kite	KAST
Card type	Visa debit card. The virtual card issues as soon as your checks clear	Visa Platinum on Standard, Visa Infinite on Premium and Private
Card issuance	Free. No fee to issue the virtual card, to replace it or to keep itKite	Two free on Standard, $2 for each one after. In some regions $2 applies even to the included cards. Ten cards maximum
Monthly or annual fee	FreeKite	$0 Standard, $1,000 Premium, $10,000 Private
Cost to load the card	0.53%	0% on stablecoins. 2-5% on any other token, which is auto-converted
Spending in US dollars	No fee	0%
Spending in another currency	1.8%	0.5% - 1.75%, depending on your country of residence and where the transaction takes place
Network gas fees	Covered, on every supported chainKite	Not covered. Withdrawals cost $0.20 to $6 plus 0.1% depending on chain
Who holds your money	Non-custodial. Multi-party encryption (TSS-MPC), export your key anytimeKite	Not described as non-custodial. Financial services are “provided through licensed and regulated partners”
Stablecoins and chains	USDC and USDT across Base, Ethereum, BSC, Polygon, Arbitrum	USDC and USDT on Solana, Arbitrum, Ethereum and Tron, plus other tokens converted on deposit
Where you can sign up	9 countries for the full card: Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia. Stablecoin payments, QR pay and the wallet in 40+ more across Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Africa and the AmericasKite	No published list. KAST says to check during sign-up, and that if your country is not in the dropdown it has not launched there
Card limits	$50,000 and 50 transactions a day, $990,000 a year	Unlimited transaction, deposit and balance limits
Cashback and rewards	Exclusive cashback drops on AI spends, conferences, and more.	1.5% / 2% / 3% cashback by tier, capped at the first $2,000, $10,000 and $40,000 of monthly spend
Apple Pay / Google Pay	Google Pay liveApple Pay Coming soon	Apple Pay and Google Pay, no added fee

Sources

The differences

Why people switch from KAST to Kite

You can check your country before you download

KAST asks you to hunt for your country in a dropdown. Kite lists every country it serves in public.

A balance you hold, not an account you are handed

KAST runs a dollar account through licensed partners. Kite gives you a wallet only you can open.

One rate, one card, nothing to upgrade to

KAST's better rates sit behind $1,000 and $10,000 a year. Kite has one card and one set of rates.

Run your own numbers

Kite vs KAST: what a year costs you

Put in what you actually spend each month. Every rate below is the one KAST and Kite publish themselves, and you can change any assumption we made.

Monthly spend in US dollars

Monthly spend in other currencies

The Kite Stable Card is free to issue. Every card figure here is the virtual card on both sides. Each other card is priced on its virtual card and the plan shown above, so the comparison is like for like rather than against a stripped-back free tier. Every figure is that provider's own.

How this is worked out

Everything here is arithmetic on published rates. No estimates, no scores, and nothing that depends on a number we made up.

Rates. Taken from KAST's own fee page and Kite's, on 31 August 2026: KAST fees and conditions for cards and accounts · Is the KAST card available in my country? · Where can I use my KAST card?.
Loading. You have to load enough to cover both what you spend and the FX fee on it, and the load fee is charged on the amount you send rather than the amount that lands. Both are accounted for, so the load line is a little higher than a flat percentage of your spend.
Ranges. Where a provider publishes a range instead of a rate, the slider starts at the midpoint and you can move it anywhere inside the published range.
Rewards and cashback are excluded on both sides. Kite's are not live yet, and the other rates are capped, tiered, or paid in tokens whose value moves, so including them would mean estimating. That is the generous assumption for the other card, not for Kite. If rewards matter most to you, read each provider's own terms.
ATM withdrawals are excluded on both sides. Kite's are not live yet, and every provider here charges for them, so leaving them out is the generous assumption for the other card, not for Kite.
Network gas is excluded from the totals and shown as a line instead, because the amount depends which chain you use. Kite covers it; the others do not.
Which card. Kite issues its card free in either form, so there is nothing to choose on this side. Each other provider is priced on its virtual card and the plan named beside its total, and that price is shown in the tooltip on that line.
Year one. One-off card fees are counted once, in full, in the first year.

Change any assumption above and the totals move with it. What does not move is what the Kite Stable Card costs you to own: nothing to get it, nothing to replace it, nothing to keep it, gas covered, and keys only you hold.

Custody

Who holds your money with Kite and KAST

KAST does not describe itself as non-custodial: it gives you a USD account operated through licensed and regulated partners, and converts your stablecoin deposits into that balance at 1:1. With Kite it stays in a wallet only you can open, and you can export the key and walk away whenever you want.

KAST's own terms are worth reading before you plan around the rewards: points, cashback, promotions and staking benefits are offered at KAST's discretion and may be modified, suspended or discontinued at any time.

No seed phrase to lose

Multi-party encryption

Your key is split, and never put together in one place. Not even on our servers.

One address, five chains

Base, Ethereum, BSC, Polygon and Arbitrum. Gas is on us.

Getting started

How to get your Kite Stable Card in 3 simple steps

Sign up and verify

Download the app and verify yourself in about two minutes. You need to be 18 or over and living in one of the nine countries Kite serves.

Get your free card

Your virtual Visa is issued instantly and you can order the physical card at the same time. Google Pay works today, and Apple Pay is coming soon.

No issuance or replacement fee

Load it and spend

Move USDC or USDT onto the card for 0.53%. It lands in five to ten minutes and you can spend it anywhere Visa is accepted.

Gas is covered

Questions

Questions about Kite and KAST, answered

What is a good KAST alternative?

Kite. You get the same thing you went to KAST for, a Visa debit card funded by stablecoins with no annual fee, plus two things KAST does not put in writing: a published list of the countries it serves, and a non-custodial wallet where the key is yours. There is one tier, one published FX rate of 1.8%, and no subscription to buy.

How much does a KAST card cost?

KAST runs three tiers: Standard at $0 a year, Premium at $1,000 a year and Private at $10,000 a year. The first two virtual cards are free, additional ones are $2, and in some regions $2 applies even to those. Physical cards are free with a $40 shipping fee. The Kite Stable Card is free to issue, free to replace and free to keep, with no tier above it.

Is the KAST card free?

The Standard tier is, at $0 a year with two virtual cards included. What sits behind the paid tiers is the rest of it: higher cashback caps, card materials and KAST Points all require the $1,000 Premium or $10,000 Private subscription. With Kite there is nothing to upgrade to, because there is only one card and it is free.

Is a KAST card self-custody?

No. KAST does not describe itself as non-custodial. It gives you a USD account operated through licensed and regulated partners, and converts your stablecoin deposits into that USD balance at 1:1. Kite is the opposite by design: the wallet is non-custodial, your key is split across parties using multi-party encryption so no single party holds a complete one, and you can export it at any time.

Is the KAST card available in my country?

KAST does not publish a country list. Its help centre tells you to start signing up and see whether your country appears in the dropdown, and using a VPN to get around it breaks their terms. Kite publishes its list in the open: Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Australia. You can check before you download anything.

What is the KAST foreign exchange fee?

KAST publishes it as a range of 0.5% to 1.75%, and says the exact figure depends on your country of residence and the country where you are spending, so you will not know which end of it you paid until the transaction settles. Kite charges a flat 1.8% when you spend in another currency, and nothing at all when you spend in US dollars.