How to spend crypto: 7 ways, what each costs and where it works (2026)

Both happen. A small share of shops take coins at checkout. Everywhere else, you swap your coins for a way of paying the shop already accepts, then pay with that.

Why don't more shops take coins? Two reasons. The price can move between the moment you pay and the moment the shop gets its money, and most checkout systems were built for cards and payment apps.

That sounds like a dead end. It isn't. A shop never has to accept crypto for you to spend it there. You only need a payment method it already takes, funded from your coins.

The seven ways are: pay the shop in crypto, use a crypto debit card, load a prepaid virtual Visa, buy a gift card, top up a phone, spend through PayPal, or cash out to your bank and use your normal card.

A simple way to choose: many shops, use a card; one store, use its gift card; one phone, use a top-up. The online shopping page puts the shopping routes next to each other.

Choose crypto on the checkout page, then send the exact amount it shows, on the network it names, from your own wallet before its timer ends.

Shops rarely touch coins themselves. A payment processor sits in between, and it decides which coins and networks you can pay with. These are three you'll run into:

1. Step 1Choose crypto at checkout

   Look for a crypto, Bitcoin or processor button next to the card options.

2. Step 2Pick the coin and network

   The payment page lists what it takes. If your coin isn't there, this route won't work for you.

3. Step 3Send the exact amount

   Scan the QR code or copy the address, and send what the page asks for, before the countdown ends.

4. Step 4Wait for the network

   The shop marks the order paid once your transaction confirms on the chain.

For spending in a physical shop, they're the most direct crypto option there is. The trade-off is an account, an ID check and terms that depend on the country you live in.

The fee picture is rarely one number. A card can carry a plan fee, a currency conversion fee and a spread on every sale of your coins, and rewards often depend on holding or locking up the issuer's own token.

Cards also come and go. BitPay closed its prepaid Mastercard in June 2023. Bitrefill's card is open only to residents of most EU and EEA countries, after an ID check.

You pick an amount, pay for it with coins, and receive a Visa card number, expiry date and security code by email. It works at online checkouts that take Visa until the balance is used up. The details are on crypto to virtual Visa.

Good fits are subscriptions, software, cloud tools and travel bookings. A few merchants turn prepaid cards away, car rental firms in particular, so check before you rely on one.

A $300 card, from order to inbox

Choose the amount, choose a coin, read the quote. The order page then shows the coin amount, the network and the minutes left on your rate:

Order#9TQ4MZ7KDW17:05

306.00USDT on Tron (TRC-20)

Your one-time address

1. Send crypto
2. Confirming
3. Payout sent

Payout: $300.00 virtual Visa, details by email

The fee is 2% of $300, which is $6.00, so the order asks for 306.00 USDT. On your first card, the one-time $10 issuing fee makes it 316.00 USDT. Your wallet adds the Tron network fee when you send.

Virtual Visanow

Your $300.00 Visa card is readyOpen the email for the card number, expiry date and security code.

Each order is a separate card. You can't add money to it later; when you need more, place a new order and update the card where you use it.

Pick the brand, the country or store it's for, and the value. Send your coins to the order, and the code is emailed, usually within minutes of your coins confirming.

Want a brand Zilligo doesn't sell? Specialist stores such as Bitrefill, Coinsbee and Cryptorefills each list thousands of products by their own count. Compare the final price at their checkout, not the headline. The Bitrefill comparison sets out those options fairly.

Type the number with its country code, choose $50 to $300, and send your coins. The credit goes straight onto the phone, usually within minutes of your coins confirming. Details on crypto to mobile top-up.

The fee is 1%, and it reaches prepaid numbers on most carriers in 150+ countries. That makes it a handy way to keep family abroad in calls and data, with nothing for them to set up.

1. Step 1Enter the number

   With the country code first, such as +63 for the Philippines. Read every digit back.

2. Step 2Choose the amount

   From $50 to $300. The quote shows the 1% fee on top.

3. Step 3Send the coins

   The exact amount, to the one-time address on your order.

4. Step 4Credit arrives

   The carrier usually texts the phone to say it's there.

Yes, in two ways. Some US shops take crypto through PayPal's own Pay with Crypto option, and anyone can cash crypto out to a PayPal balance, then spend it wherever PayPal is accepted.

The first depends on the shop switching it on. The second works anywhere PayPal does, and PayPal runs in 200+ markets.

PayPalnow

You received $250.00From Zilligo. Ready to spend or send.

Start from the purchase, not the coin. The thing you're buying usually picks the route for you:

When cashing out first is the smarter move

For large amounts, payments in person or anything paid by bank transfer, put the money in your bank and spend from there. A SEPA transfer or ACH takes up to $15,000 per order, for 1%.

Every bank route, step by step, is in how to cash out crypto.

Through Zilligo, phone top-ups and bank payouts are the cheapest routes at 1%. Gift cards and PayPal cost 1.5%; the virtual Visa costs 2%, plus $10 on a first card. The network fee to move your coins comes on top.

The cost most people forget: the network fee

Your wallet pays the blockchain to move your coins. That money goes to the network, not to Zilligo, and it depends on the coin and how busy the chain is.

Because the network fee stays the same whatever you spend, it bites hardest on small orders:

All 22 payouts and their fees are on the fees page; the limits are on the limits page.

Three habits cover most of it: never buy a gift card because someone asked to be paid with one, check the region before you pay, and guard every code like cash.

Why do scammers prefer gift cards and coins? Once a code is redeemed or a coin is sent, getting it back is very hard. The FTC warns that crypto payments usually can't be reversed.

Treat a code like a banknote: whoever sees it can spend it. Don't share screenshots, and only enter it on the brand's own site or app.

Already handed a code to a scammer?

1. Step 1Contact the brand straight away

   Ask the gift card company whether the balance can still be frozen. Minutes count.

2. Step 2Save the evidence

   The code, the receipt or order reference, and every message from the scammer.

3. Step 3Report it

   To the police, and in the US to the FTC as well.

4. Step 4Tell Zilligo if you bought it here

   Message support on Telegram with the order reference. We can't promise to recover the money.

On Zilligo's side, a person reviews every order, and orders tied to fraud, scams or stolen funds are refused. Zilligo support never asks for passwords, seed phrases or remote access. More on the security page.

Often, yes. In many countries spending crypto is treated like selling it, so a card, a gift card or phone credit paid for with coins can create a taxable gain or loss.

What follows is general information, not tax advice. Rules differ by country, so check your own or ask an accountant.

The tax is usually worked out on the coin, not on what you bought. Roughly, the gain is what the coins were worth when you spent them, minus what you paid for them.

Stablecoins behave differently. USDT stays close to $1, so spending it rarely produces much gain, although swapping another coin into USDT earlier may have.

Zilligo keeps order records for 5 years, but your own notes are quicker to hand an accountant. The general rules are in crypto tax when you cash out.