Neobank Revolut announced on Monday that it is launching its first physical crypto card.

The product features popular cryptocurrency mascot Doge – a Shiba Inu wearing blocky sunglasses with LEDs that light up when a user pays with the card. The dog also lends its likeness to dogecoin, one of the first memecoins – a type of cryptoasset whose value is driven mainly by online jokes, trends and speculation rather than by underlying fundamentals.

The card will be usable anywhere Visa and Mastercard are accepted, and will be offered to users in the UK and European Economic Area, excluding Hungary, Switzerland, and Portugal.

Revolut, which is currently targeting an initial public offering at a valuation of between $150 billion and $200 billion, made the launch announcement on X. Among other selling points, the bank said the card offered "Dogeeeeeeeee".

The offering builds on its digital version, launched in 2024. Both offer exchange at the point of sale with zero exchange fees, meaning it appears to the user as though they are paying with cryptoassets, in a similar way to purchases made in a foreign currency.

The bank notes in its statement that this is not in fact the case, however, adding that paying with a crypto card is treated as a disposal of cryptoassets and may therefore be liable for capital gains tax. This is because cryptoassets are treated differently from currencies by regulators, and are considered akin to shares or derivatives in both the UK and the EU.

Cryptoassets also tend to be treated this way by those who hold them. Blandina Szalay, banking and payments analyst at intelligence firm GlobalData, notes that the company has "been observing low rates of payment use case adoption among crypto holders". Although rates are increasing, only 5 per cent of wallet holders on average have reported using crypto to fund payment wallets, with the highest rates recorded in emerging markets and the US.

Physical cards are also increasingly losing ground to mobile payments, which Szalay says may make this launch seem "counterintuitive," though she suggests it is "a genius way of leveraging a bank card as a key symbol associated with traditional banking." She adds that "repositioning this proposition as part of the 'normal' financial services world may just be what was needed to push crypto payments into the mainstream".

Szalay also notes that there are risks attached to an attempt to shift passive cryptoasset holding to active spend, as value fluctuations "due to supply and demand shocks would then directly impact the value of purchases, as opposed to just the value of investment balances."

A Revolut spokesperson told FStech: "This is a limited edition launch with only 10,000 cards available. Dogecoin is inherently crypto and we wanted the first physical design to feel recognisable, not something overly technical or niche.

"This made Dogecoin a strong choice for a broader audience of our customers, not only crypto natives. We also already have a range of virtual crypto-themed card designs that resonate with our customers."

The card's launch marks a continuation of Revolut's portfolio diversification strategy. Earlier this month, the bank won approval from UK regulator the Financial Conduct Authority to offer an expanded range of investment services in the country.

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