How is each card scored?

Each card receives a 0-10 composite of four weighted dimensions: 35% fees (topup + per-transaction + monthly + ATM + FX spread), 25% reliability (status page history + announcements + community signal), 20% UX (app quality + KYC friction + payment method support), 20% compliance (licensed coverage + regulator clarity).

Where does the data come from?

Three sources, in priority order: (1) issuer official fee page, linked via feeSourceUrl on every review (top priority); (2) issuer official status pages and announcements, auto-checked hourly; (3) public community reports (Reddit, Twitter), labeled as non-verified context only.

Do you perform independent on-chain testing?

No. We do not buy cards, run transactions, or capture transaction hashes. Every review carries a "based on official documentation" badge. Our value is aggregation + comparison + editorial judgment, not test data. We believe public methodology + linkable sources beat a single test run for ongoing reliability.

Why don't you accept issuer payments?

usdtcard.net accepts zero issuer payments, runs zero affiliate links, and never previews scores to issuers. This is both our editorial stance and the strongest E-E-A-T signal we can offer. Full disclosure at /disclosure.

How often do scores change?

Worker scrapes the official fee page hourly. Any detected change triggers a recompute that night. Card status downgrade (online → delayed → issue) lowers reliability weight over the next 7 days. Any score change exceeding ±0.5 requires human review before publication.

English · 阅读中文 →

Methodology

How we score 13 USDT virtual cards, where the data comes from, and what we explicitly don't claim. Public formula, transparent sourcing.

The four-dimension formula

Each card's composite score (0-10) is the weighted sum of four dimensions:

35% Fees — USDT topup fee + per-transaction fee + monthly fee + ATM withdrawal + FX spread. Weighted toward topup and per-txn since those compound with usage.
25% Reliability — Issuer's official status page history, announcement frequency, community signal (Reddit / Twitter outage reports). Card status downgrades (online → delayed → issue) reduce this dimension for 7 days.
20% UX — App quality, KYC friction (basic vs full), supported payment methods (Apple Pay / Google Pay / Alipay / WeChat Pay), card form factor flexibility.
20% Compliance — Issuer licensing footprint (MAS, SFC, FCA, FinCEN MSB, MiCA, etc.), regulatory clarity in target markets, history of pause/exit decisions.

Data source ladder

Issuer official fee page (top priority) — Every card review carries a feeSourceUrl linking directly to the source. usdtcard.net auto-scrapes this page hourly and republishes any detected change within 24 hours.
Issuer status pages + official announcements — Used for reliability scoring and incident timeline.
Regulator websites (FATF, MAS, SFC, FinCEN, FCA, European Commission, etc.) — Cited in compliance writeups.
Public community reports (Reddit, Twitter) — Labeled as "non-verified context" wherever cited.

What we explicitly don't do

No independent on-chain testing. We do not buy cards, run transactions, or capture transaction hashes. The whole industry map is maintained from public documentation auto-scraped hourly.
No paid placements or score adjustments from issuers.
No advance preview of scores to issuers.
No card recorded without an official fee source page (no source → not indexed).

When scores change

Hourly fee-page check triggers an overnight recompute when a change is detected. Card status downgrade auto-reduces the reliability dimension over the next 7 days. Any composite score change exceeding ±0.5 requires human review before publication.

Why this stance is still valuable

Industry fee data is scattered across dozens of issuer pages with inconsistent framing, currencies, and chain-specific fine print. Comparing them by hand is prohibitively expensive for readers. What we do: structure official data, refresh hourly, and apply editorial judgment for USDT-specific use cases. This is an aggregation + analysis product, not a testing lab. We're upfront about that so you can cite our numbers with confidence.

FAQ

Q. How is each card scored?: Each card receives a 0-10 composite of four weighted dimensions: 35% fees (topup + per-transaction + monthly + ATM + FX spread), 25% reliability (status page history + announcements + community signal), 20% UX (app quality + KYC friction + payment method support), 20% compliance (licensed coverage + regulator clarity).
Q. Where does the data come from?: Three sources, in priority order: (1) issuer official fee page, linked via feeSourceUrl on every review (top priority); (2) issuer official status pages and announcements, auto-checked hourly; (3) public community reports (Reddit, Twitter), labeled as non-verified context only.
Q. Do you perform independent on-chain testing?: No. We do not buy cards, run transactions, or capture transaction hashes. Every review carries a "based on official documentation" badge. Our value is aggregation + comparison + editorial judgment, not test data. We believe public methodology + linkable sources beat a single test run for ongoing reliability.
Q. Why don't you accept issuer payments?: usdtcard.net accepts zero issuer payments, runs zero affiliate links, and never previews scores to issuers. This is both our editorial stance and the strongest E-E-A-T signal we can offer. Full disclosure at /disclosure.
Q. How often do scores change?: Worker scrapes the official fee page hourly. Any detected change triggers a recompute that night. Card status downgrade (online → delayed → issue) lowers reliability weight over the next 7 days. Any score change exceeding ±0.5 requires human review before publication.