What backs your payment?key difference
- Gold Visa card (Kinesis)
- Physical gold or silver in a vault (in your name)
- Visa Gold (status credit card)
- Credit from your bank
- Crypto debit card
- Crypto balance (no physical backing)
Spoke · 2026Gold or silver · Cashback in gold · Live in the US
Gold Visa card: does that exist? This is how you pay in 2026 with physical gold or silver every day
Yes — a gold Visa card exists. The Kinesis Visa card is a debit card that converts your precious-metal balance at the moment of payment into euros, dollars or the local currency of the country where you pay, so you can pay in any store with Visa acceptance using physical gold or silver — you choose which metal the system uses for the transaction. You get 2% of every purchase back in gold, rising to 10% at 6,000+ Metalback retailers*. The card is live in the United States; not yet in the Netherlands — EU regulation is delaying the rollout.
The first time I explained it to a friend, he thought I meant a “Visa Gold” status card. That confusion is understandable. If you google “gold visa card”, you mostly get pages about premium credit cards with a gold trim and travel insurance. This article is about something completely different: a card you use to pay at the supermarket while your precious-metal holdings shrink a fraction — not your bank balance. The amount of gold or silver in your name in the vault falls, in exchange for the groceries you just bought.
Want to understand first why people want to save in gold and silver at all — separate from the card? Then this honest comparison of saving in gold and silver will help you further. For the rest of this piece I assume you already know that and want to understand how you actually spend that precious metal.
Free · iDEAL · ~2 minutes
Kinesis Visa card
Live in the US · NL later
2% to 10% cashback in physical gold
Pay from your gold or silver balance. 2% back on every purchase (max $40 per month), up to 10% extra via Metalback at 6,000+ online shops. Always paid out in physical gold.
Works with
3 categories · 5 dimensions
A gold Visa card is something different from a “Visa Gold” card
The words look the same. The products are anything but. A Visa Gold card is a status tier — comparable to Visa Platinum or Visa Infinite. Gold is only in the name and on the plastic. A gold Visa card is a payment method where real physical gold or silver forms the backing. Here are the three categories that Google keeps confusing:
Cashback form
- Gold Visa card (Kinesis)
- Physical gold in your account
- Visa Gold (status credit card)
- Points or euros
- Crypto debit card
- Crypto tokens from the provider
Who provides it?
- Gold Visa card (Kinesis)
- Kinesis Money
- Visa Gold (status credit card)
- Banks (ING, ANWB, Mastercard equivalents)
- Crypto debit card
- The exchange itself (Binance, Crypto.com)
Target audience
- Gold Visa card (Kinesis)
- People who save in gold and silver and want to pay with it
- Visa Gold (status credit card)
- Travellers who want status perks
- Crypto debit card
- Crypto holders looking for fiat access
Ownership claimkey difference
- Gold Visa card (Kinesis)
- Full legal title to the precious metal
- Visa Gold (status credit card)
- None — you borrow money
- Crypto debit card
- Counterparty risk with the exchange
The rest of this article is only about the left column — the Kinesis approach.
How does paying with physical gold or silver via a Visa card work?
Four steps. Sounds simpler than it is, and is ultimately also simpler than you think:
- 01
You hold gold and silver in your Kinesis account and choose what you pay with.
At Kinesis, gold is called “KAU” (1 KAU = 1 gram of physical gold, stored in a Brink's or Loomis vault in Zurich, Singapore, New York and ten other cities). Silver is called “KAG” (1 KAG = 1 ounce, about 31 grams). In the Kinesis app you set which metal the card uses for payments — gold or silver, switchable whenever you want.
- 02
At a purchase, the right amount of precious metal is converted to local currency in real time.
You pay €4.50 for coffee. Have you set gold as your payment metal? Then roughly 0.036 grams of gold (at a spot price around €124 per gram) is converted to €4.50 — the amount that goes to the merchant for the transaction. Your gold balance drops by that 0.055 grams; with silver as the payment metal the same mechanism applies, with a larger KAG fraction. Your bank balance stays untouched.
- 03
The merchant receives euros via the Visa network.
For the barista, nothing changes. No pop-up, no “wait, what is this”. It is simply a Visa transaction. The Visa payment infrastructure handles it like any other card.
- 04
You get 2% back in gold in your account.
Not in points. Not in euros. In fractional physical gold — regardless of whether you paid from gold or from silver. At Metalback retailers that rises to 10% (more on that later).
What makes the Kinesis card different from other debit cards is in step 1: the precious metal is physically there. In your name, audited by Bureau Veritas, not lent out. Kinesis explicitly guarantees that the gold and silver are never lent out — no rehypothecation.
Want to dig deeper into how you earn cashback in gold on top of that when shopping online — via Metalback — then that comes back further down this page.
Where does the Kinesis Visa card stand now in 2026?
Honest story: in the United States the card is live — there, holders can now use it for everyday payments. In the Netherlands you cannot put it in your wallet yet. Not because Kinesis doesn't want to roll it out, but because European regulation around this type of precious-metal-backed debit card is delaying the rollout. Brazil, Argentina and Mexico are the next beta markets on the roadmap; for the Netherlands no launch date is confirmed yet.
What can you already do now?
- Open a Kinesis account. That is free, takes about two minutes and you'll then be at the front of the queue as soon as the card goes live in the Netherlands.
- Build up gold and silver via the Kinesis Exchange. Depositing with iDEAL is possible, the transaction fees are 0.22% (flat — no mark-up on the gold or silver price).
- Earn via Holder's Yield. On the gold and silver you hold you receive a monthly yield paid out in physical precious metal, even without using the card.
Apple Pay and Google Pay are on the card roadmap. The current beta is virtual-only — a physical plastic card as a backup follows. For anyone hesitating now: opening an account is risk-free (no costs, no obligation to deposit) and it is the only way not to fall behind on the waiting list later.
Personal note: I'm waiting myself for the Dutch rollout to stop shuffling daily between a savings account and a separate precious-metal app. One card that closes the whole circuit — that is why this product is worth it.
5 purchase categories · up to 10% back
What do you get back? From 2% base to 10% via Metalback
The cashback layer is what makes the card special. Not just the percentage — above all what you get back.
Everyday store
- With Metalback (Kinesis)
- n/a
- Base cashback (Kinesis)
- 2%*
- Example retailer
- Albert Heijn, Shell
Electronicsstacks to 10%
- With Metalback (Kinesis)
- up to 10%*
- Base cashback (Kinesis)
- 2%*
- Example retailer
- Apple, Samsung
Fashion and sport
- With Metalback (Kinesis)
- up to 10%*
- Base cashback (Kinesis)
- 2%*
- Example retailer
- Levi's, Nike
Travel and hotels
- With Metalback (Kinesis)
- up to 10%*
- Base cashback (Kinesis)
- 2%*
- Example retailer
- Booking.com
Online marketplaces
- With Metalback (Kinesis)
- up to 10%*
- Base cashback (Kinesis)
- 2%*
- Example retailer
- Etsy, eBay
The trick is in stacking. At Metalback retailers (there are 6,000+) the base rate rises to 10%, because the retailer pays a marketing commission that flows directly into your gold position. No discount code, no browser extension — just pay with the Kinesis card on an affiliated site.
Worked example
Slide your monthly spending and how much of it goes via Metalback retailers — you immediately see what you get back per month and per year in physical gold.
Calculate your cashback in gold
Interactive
Slide your monthly spending and how much of it goes via Metalback retailers
€1.500
€100€5,000
30% ≈ €450
0%100%
Build-up per month
- Base 2% on €1.500
- €30
- Metalback on your €450 share
- up to €36
Per month
€30 – €66
0,24 g – 0,53 g
physical gold
Per year
€360 – €792
2,90 g – 6,39 g
physical gold
Worked example, not a guarantee. Base 2% on all card spending (cap $40/month, ~€37); at 6,000+ Metalback retailers it rises to 10% — the actual percentage differs per retailer, hence a range. Gold price ~€124/gram (indicatief, juni 2026); your euro equivalent moves with the gold rate.
That is on top of the fact that you were going to spend that amount anyway. No extra spending, just a different payment method. And the gold grows (or shrinks) with the gold rate.
Two important caveats. One: these are worked examples, not guarantees. Cashback percentages per retailer vary. Two: the increase in value depends on the gold price — if it falls, your euro equivalent falls too. More on that in the FAQ.
4 methods · 5 comparison axes
Difference from other “paying with gold” options
People who google “how do I pay with gold” usually come across three alternatives. Here they are briefly against the Kinesis card:
Speed
- Kinesis Visa card
- Real-time
- Selling gold bars
- 1-7 days
- Gold ETF (e.g. DEGIRO)
- 2-3 working days
- Crypto debit card
- Real-time
Physical backingkey difference
- Kinesis Visa card
- Yes (KAU = 1g physical gold / KAG = 1oz physical silver)
- Selling gold bars
- Yes (before sale)
- Gold ETF (e.g. DEGIRO)
- Indirect (fund shares)
- Crypto debit card
- None
Usable dailykey difference
- Kinesis Visa card
- Yes
- Selling gold bars
- No
- Gold ETF (e.g. DEGIRO)
- No
- Crypto debit card
- Yes
Costs
- Kinesis Visa card
- 0.22% conversion
- Selling gold bars
- 1-5% spread + visit required
- Gold ETF (e.g. DEGIRO)
- 0.2-0.4% per year + transaction costs
- Crypto debit card
- Spread + crypto volatility
The fundamental question is: do you want gold or silver as a static savings object (then a bar from a gold dealer will do) or as active, spendable money (then you are penalised by every alternative except this one)? The Kinesis card bridges “I have precious metal” and “I can buy groceries with it” without having to sell first.
Is your gold or silver “gone” once you pay?
No. That is perhaps the most common misconception. I got this question from my father: “if you buy €100 with gold, do I get gold back from the shop?”No — the shop gets euros. But your precious-metal holdings only drop by the exact micro-amount needed to cover that €100 — gold or silver, depending on what you have set as your payment metal.
To be concrete. Suppose you have 50 grams of gold in your account (worth ±€4,100). You pay €100 at a petrol station. The system sells roughly 1.22 grams (depending on the spot rate at that moment). The remaining 48.78 grams stays in the vault. In your name. Audited.
With silver it works identically: suppose you have 50 ounces of silver (worth ±€1,350 at a spot price around €27 per ounce), you pay €100, then the system sells roughly 3.7 ounces of silver. The rest stays in your name in the same vault.
That audit part is important. Kinesis has the entire bullion holding independently inspected twice a year by Inspectorate International (part of Bureau Veritas). The vault partners are Brink's and Loomis Zurich — not the least names in physical custody. And the Cayman entity is registered with the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority under reference 1877923.
What it means in practice: after 12 months of coffee-coffee-fuel-ordering you still have your precious metal. Just less of it, in exchange for the things you consumed. And you have built up 2-10% cashback in physical gold, which partly or fully offsets the loss.
Frequently asked questions
- Not directly with a bar — the barista at Starbucks isn't going to slice off 0.055 grams. But via a gold Visa card, yes: at the transaction the exact amount of gold (or silver, if you have set that as your payment metal) that covers your amount is converted into local currency. The merchant notices no difference from an ordinary Visa payment. For you, your precious-metal balance drops, not your bank balance.
- A debit card linked to an account whose balance is held in physical gold (and/or silver) instead of in euros. At the moment of payment, the provider converts the right amount of gold to local currency in real time. The Kinesis Visa card is currently the most developed version of this, with 2-10% cashback in gold on top of the base mechanism.
- On every purchase with the card, 2% of the amount is paid back as fractional physical gold in your Kinesis account. At affiliated Metalback retailers (Apple, Samsung, Booking, Levi's, Etsy and over 6,000 others) that rises to 10%. The gold is stored in the same vaults as your main holdings — in your name, audited. The value fluctuates with the gold rate.
- Yes, the Kinesis Visa debit card. It runs in beta with coverage in 30 countries and is built on the standard Visa network, which means you can use it in stores and online shops that accept Visa (80+ million merchants worldwide). For the Netherlands the card is coming soon — there is no confirmed launch date yet, but account holders are automatically on the waiting list.
- Two levels. The gold and silver themselves are physically stored at Brink's and Loomis Zurich in 13 vaults worldwide. Independently audited every six months by Bureau Veritas, in your name. At the card level the same Visa protections apply as with any other Visa card: 3D Secure, fraud monitoring, card blocking via the app. What the system does not remove: the market risk on the gold and silver price itself — which can fall.
- The Kinesis Visa card runs in beta with coverage in 30 countries, with a focus on the United States and the rollout to Latin America (Brazil, Argentina, Mexico). European countries including the Netherlands are in the pipeline — no fixed date, but a waiting list via your Kinesis account.
- A Visa Gold card is a status-tier credit card — just like Visa Platinum or Visa Infinite. The “gold” is in the name and the colour of the plastic. A gold Visa card like the one from Kinesis is a debit card whose balance is held in physical gold or silver. At the moment of payment, the system converts that precious metal to euros. Both cards run on the Visa network; only the second has real precious metal as backing.
Ready to be at the front of the Dutch queue?
Open your free Kinesis account now — then you are automatically in the queue as soon as the card goes live in the Netherlands and you start building gold and silver via Holder's Yield. Two minutes, no costs, free to deposit with iDEAL.
* Cashback is paid out in physical gold in your Kinesis account. Value fluctuates with the gold price. Yields are variable and not guaranteed. This page is updated as soon as the Kinesis card is available in the Netherlands.