Costs, licensing, consumer protection Privacy, self-custody, censorship resistance

Zap Card

Zap, Inc. (Strike) · Visa

3.0/5 0.4/5
Account fee Not disclosed

Data verified on unchanged since the sources

Zap Card is the consumer Visa card developed by Zap, Inc. (a US company in Chicago founded in 2017 by Jack Mallers), tied to the Strike app. Zap/Strike uses Bitcoin's Lightning Network as a settlement rail on the backend, but the model is custodial: the spent balance is in dollars and the company converts Bitcoin to fiat before spending, so the user does not hold the private key. Zap, Inc. joined the Visa Fast Track program for consumer issuance; the product is US-focused and requires full KYC. The card's specific commercial figures (issuance fee, annual fee, FX markup, cashback, ATM limits and fees) are not officially documented in public.

20
Transparency: Very low
20/100 · see methodology
20
Data exposure: Minimal
20/100 · lower is better for sovereignty · methodology

Data & conditions

Account fee Not disclosed
Network Visa
ATM withdrawal not declared
Fund custody Custodial (platform holds funds)
KYC Full
Supported countries US
MiCA / License status Not disclosed

Strengths

  • Visa spending backed by Bitcoin's Lightning Network on the backend, accepted anywhere Visa is accepted
  • Integration with the Strike ecosystem to send, receive and convert Bitcoin to dollars at low fees
  • Long-standing US issuer (Zap, Inc.) in the Visa Fast Track program
  • No notable sovereignty advantage documented.

Weaknesses

  • Custodial model: Bitcoin is converted to dollars and the user does not control the private keys
  • Availability concentrated in the United States with mandatory full KYC
  • Card commercial terms (cashback, fees, FX markup, ATM limits) not publicly documented
  • Custodial: the platform holds your funds and can freeze or lose them.
  • Full KYC required: verified identity, zero pseudonymity.

Verdict

C D ★ 3.0/5 ★ 0.4/5

Score 3.0/5, average profile. In its favour: visa spending backed by Bitcoin's Lightning Network on the backend, accepted anywhere Visa is accepted. The trade-off to weigh: custodial model: Bitcoin is converted to dollars and the user does not control the private keys.

On the Sovereignty lens the score is 0.4/5 (weak): the strength is censorship resistance (1.5/5), while fund control (0.0/5) is the weak link.

Privacy & anonymity 30% 0.0
Fund control 20% 0.0
Censorship resistance 20% 1.5

Promp's editorial rating based on real fees and net annual cost. Promp reviews third-party products independently.

"Sovereignty" rating: score computed on privacy/anonymity (30%), fund control (20%), censorship resistance (20%), trustless/auditability (20%) and costs (10%). Same data, different weights.

Reputation

What happened to people who used Zap Card, and what users say. External signals: they do not feed the promp.it rating.

Incidents & regulatory actions

No known incident

Search across public sources: no known hack, withdrawal freeze or regulatory action as of the verification date.

verified on

Public reviews

4.7/5 49,288 reviews
  • App Store ↗ 4.8/5 28,290 reviews

    Exact figure from iTunes Lookup for 'STRIKE: Buy & Hold Bitcoin' (id 1488724463, US storefront), developer Zap Solutions, Inc. The Zap Card is tied to the Strike app.

  • Google Play ↗ 4.7/5 20,998 reviews

    Exact values from the Google Play page structured data (zapsolutions.strike): ratingValue 4.66; ratingCount 20,998. Re-verified by the orchestrator against the primary endpoint.

Weighted average across 2 public review platforms (49,288 reviews in total), weighted by volume. This is not our rating: it is those platforms’ average.

FAQ

Is the Zap Card self-custody?

No. Zap/Strike is a custodial service: it uses the Lightning Network on the backend but converts Bitcoin to dollars and holds the funds, so the user does not retain control of the private keys.

Where is the Zap Card available?

The product is US-focused, where Zap, Inc. issues via the Visa Fast Track program, and requires full KYC verification.

Sources

Update history

✓ Terms unchanged since Jun 22, 2026

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