Avici offers a secured Visa card that spends against USDC locked in an escrow contract. The docs say the contract is self-custodial. Neither Avici, the named issuing reference “Third National,” nor Visa controls the loan contract, on that page’s description.
The native card currency is USD. Other tokens can fund a top-up because Avici swaps them to USDC through Relay before the credit balance is created. The card docs were marked as updated about three months before mid-October 2026. The fee page was marked as updated about 27 days before this review.
How is the secured card structured?
The docs describe four steps. The user deposits USDC into a loan-escrow contract. Avici creates a matching USD credit balance on the card. A purchase reduces that credit balance. On a cycle of one or two days, or sometimes a week, the spent USDC is liquidated from the contract and settled with Visa.
A $100 deposit creates $100 of card credit. A $20 purchase leaves $80 of credit, and $20 of USDC is later liquidated to settle the $20. The unspent USDC stays in the escrow until it is spent or withdrawn.
The user wallet owns the contract. Avici can withdraw only the USDC linked to posted charges. After those charges are deducted, only the user’s wallet can withdraw the remainder. The docs say the card works at merchants that accept Visa international credit cards, and that Apple Pay and Google Pay are supported.
How do Platinum and Signature differ?
The fees and limits page splits personal cards into Platinum and Signature. A separate business-card page lists its own issuance prices and sets the business ATM fee at $0.
| Item | Platinum | Signature |
|---|---|---|
| First virtual card | $15, then $10 for later virtual cards | $30 in year one, then $20 a year |
| Physical card | $50 once | $75, then $20 a year from the second year |
| Purchase transaction fee | $0 | $0 |
| Avici forex markup | 0% | 0% |
| ATM withdrawal | $1 plus 0.65% | $0 |
| ATM size | $1,000 a transaction, $3,000 a day, 3 a day | Same size limits |
| ATM decline or balance inquiry | $0.60 | $0 |
Delivery of the physical card is described as free and untracked, with a stated window of three to four weeks. Priority delivery is $50 internationally and $15 in the United States, with a stated window of one to two weeks. The card fee is paid in USDC.
The profile-verification page describes a tighter ATM rule: Platinum at $1 plus 0.65% up to three withdrawals or $250 a day, and Signature ATM withdrawals free up to three withdrawals or $250 a day. That page and the fees page do not match on the daily ATM dollar cap. The fees page is the schedule cited in the table. The profile page is the figure shown in the order flow it documents.
What else do the card terms charge?
The fees page says Visa may charge about 0.4% to 1% as a cross-border fee on non-USD transactions, and that Avici’s own forex markup is 0%. It also says there is no low-auth fee, no declined-transaction fee except on ATMs, and no fee to top up or to withdraw back to the wallet.
The card terms say the foreign-exchange fee can be as high as 3%, and they describe the current Visa charge as 1% with no Avici markup. The U.S. card terms list an international transaction fee of 1% of each transaction in U.S. dollars. They also list ATM fees of $0.60 for a balance inquiry, $0.60 for a decline, and $1.00 plus 0.65% for a withdrawal, which matches Platinum more closely than Signature’s $0 ATM line.
A non-USD purchase can therefore show a network FX charge even when Avici’s markup line is 0%. The terms say Avici does not currently adjust the network’s exchange rate. Cash-advance pricing is listed as none, and balance transfers as not available.
On October 5, 2026, the official Avici account said a US account in the user’s name pays dollars that land in Avici as USDC at 1:1, and it pointed to a fees link. The iOS listing separately describes a dedicated US dollar account for funding. The 1:1 line is the account’s statement, not a figure restated on the fees page itself.
Who can get the card, and what are the spend limits?
The fees page says there is no transaction limit on purchases, and that a cardholder can set a lower limit in card settings. That sentence is about purchase count and size, not about ATM withdrawals, which have the caps in the table. Regional blocks are delegated to a separate availability page in the docs.
KYC runs before the card is usable, and the profile page says the card fee is charged when the order is placed, before verification finishes. A failed verification is a support request for a refund of that fee, not an automatic reversal described on the page. Some Avici promotions in October 2026 excluded UK residents. Those posts are campaign rules, not the card’s country list.
Business accounts on the business fee page get four virtual cards free, then $10, and a physical card at $50, with a $0 ATM fee and the same $1,000 and $3,000 ATM size caps.
What risks sit in the escrow design?
The unspent USDC is in a contract the user owns, and the spent amount is pulled later to settle Visa. A delay of up to a week between the purchase and the liquidation means the contract still holds USDC that is already owed to the card settlement. If that USDC loses its peg in the gap, the settlement math and the remaining collateral can diverge.
Avici’s ability to withdraw charged amounts is a limited pull right, not full custody of the contract. A bug in the escrow or in the Relay swap is a software loss, not an insured deposit claim. The docs do not describe FDIC insurance on the USDC.
The ATM documents disagree by a wide margin, $250 versus $3,000 a day. A cardholder looking at the order screen and the fees page can see both. Signature’s $0 ATM fee and Platinum’s $1 plus 0.65% are consistent across the fees page, and the U.S. terms still print the Platinum-style ATM price in the general list.
Network FX of about 1% is easy to miss next to a 0% Avici markup. The terms cap that charge at 3% even where the current figure is described as 1%.
Common questions
Is the Avici card a bank balance?
No. It is a secured card against USDC in an escrow contract. The docs say the user owns the contract and Avici does not custody it.
What does the first card cost?
On the fees page, the first Platinum virtual card is $15 and the first Signature virtual year is $30. Physical cards are $50 and $75 on that page.
Are non-USD purchases free?
Avici’s forex markup is listed at 0%. Visa can still charge a cross-border fee. The fees page estimates 0.4% to 1%, and the terms say the current Visa FX charge is 1%, with a stated maximum of 3%.
