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Card comparison · August 2026

Kite vs Avici

Avici advertises a 0% forex markup, then notes that Visa may add 0.4-1% when you spend abroad. Kite gives you one number, a card that costs you nothing, and all nine Asia Pacific countries.

Get the Kite app See the full comparison

What the headline rate leaves outKiteAvici

Card costFree$15 - $75

Annual feeFree$0 - $20

Non-USD spend1.8% flat0% + Visa 0.4-1%

Card countries9, plus 40+
for payments7 countries

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

The short answer

Kite vs Avici: the short answer

An Avici virtual card is $15 or $30 upfront. The Kite Stable Card is free.

Avici’s 0% forex carries its own note that Visa may add 0.4-1%. Kite is a flat 1.8%.

Avici does not serve Vietnam, Taiwan or South Korea. Kite covers all nine, plus 40+ more for payments.

Both are self-custodial. What is left is the upfront fee and the reach.

Side by side

Kite vs Avici: fees and features compared

This compares the virtual card on each side, so the two columns are like for like. Every figure comes from Avici'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	Avici
Card type	Visa debit card. The virtual card issues as soon as your checks clear	Visa secured credit cards. Virtual in Platinum and Signature. Infinite “coming soon”
Card issuance	Free. No fee to issue the virtual card, to replace it or to keep itKite	Platinum $15 for your first card and $10 after. Signature $30 for the first year, then $20 billed annually
Monthly or annual fee	FreeKite	Platinum none. Signature $20 a year from year two
Cost to load the card	0.53%	Free, minimum $1. Card contracts take USDC only; other tokens are auto-swapped
Spending in US dollars	No fee	$0 transaction fee
Spending in another currency	1.8%	0% markup, with Avici's own note that “Visa may charge a small 0.4-1% cross border fee for non-USD transactions”
Network gas fees	Covered, on every supported chain	No gas on EVM L2 top-ups
Who holds your money	Non-custodial. Multi-party encryption (TSS-MPC), export your key anytime	Self-custodial smart wallet, described as decentralised and open to all
Stablecoins and chains	USDC and USDT across Base, Ethereum, BSC, Polygon, Arbitrum	USDC for card credit, any token accepted and auto-swapped via Relay
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	Around 50 countries including Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Hong Kong, Japan, Australia and the UAE. Not Vietnam, Taiwan or South Korea. India is prohibited
Card limits	$50,000 and 50 transactions a day, $990,000 a year	No transaction limits. Per-card limits settable in the app
Cashback and rewards	Exclusive cashback drops on AI spends, conferences, and more.	No cashback. Signature carries Visa benefits such as lounge access
Apple Pay / Google Pay	Google Pay liveApple Pay Coming soon	Apple Pay and Google Pay, entered manually

Sources

The differences

Why people switch from Avici to Kite

Nothing to pay before you spend

An Avici virtual card is $15 or $30 upfront. The Kite Stable Card is free to issue and free to keep.

All nine countries, including the three Avici skips

Avici does not cover Vietnam, Taiwan or South Korea. Kite covers all nine, and 40+ more for payments.

One number when you spend abroad

Avici's 0% carries a 0.4-1% Visa cross-border footnote. Kite is one number: 1.8%.

Run your own numbers

Kite vs Avici: what a year costs you

Put in what you actually spend each month. Every rate below is the one Avici 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 Avici's own fee page and Kite's, on 31 August 2026: Avici card fees and limits · Avici regions and prohibitions · Avici virtual and physical cards.
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 Avici

Avici is self-custodial too, so on this line the two start from the same place. With Kite it stays in a wallet only you can open, and you can export the key and walk away whenever you want.

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 Avici, answered

Does the Avici card really have 0% forex fees?

Avici adds no markup of its own, and says so plainly. Its documentation then notes that Visa may charge a 0.4-1% cross-border fee on non-USD transactions, and you pay that. So spending abroad is not free, it lands somewhere in that band, and you will not know where until the transaction settles. Kite charges a flat 1.8% in another currency and nothing in US dollars.

How much does an Avici card cost?

A virtual Platinum is $15 for your first card and $10 for each one after. A virtual Signature is $30 for the first year, then $20 a year. Physical cards are $50 Platinum and $75 Signature, plus $20 a year from year two, and priority delivery adds $15 in the US or $50 elsewhere. The Kite Stable Card is free to issue and free to keep.

How does an Avici card work?

You top up a Visa secured credit card from a self-custodial smart wallet. The card contracts accept USDC only, so anything else you hold is auto-swapped through Relay first, and there is no gas on EVM L2 top-ups. Kite works from the same starting point, a wallet you control, but takes USDC or USDT directly across five chains and covers the gas on all of them.

Is Avici available in my country?

Avici lists roughly 50 countries, including Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Hong Kong, Japan and Australia, and prohibits India among others. It does not cover Vietnam, Taiwan or South Korea. Kite covers all nine of the countries it serves: Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Australia.

Is Avici self-custodial like Kite?

Yes. Avici runs a self-custodial smart wallet and says so in its documentation. Kite uses multi-party encryption instead, which splits your key across parties so there is no seed phrase to lose, with recovery through your own Google or Apple login and the option to export the key at any time.

What is Avici?

Avici describes itself as an internet neobank powered by crypto. It combines a self-custodial smart wallet with Visa secured credit cards, virtual USD and EUR accounts, tokenised US stocks and stablecoin yield. Kite is narrower on purpose: a wallet you control and a Visa debit card that costs nothing to own, built for nine countries across Asia Pacific.