Stablecoins power some of the most important features you use on Novacrust, such as USD Accounts, Virtual Cards, international payouts, and seamless conversions. Today, we’re excited to take that even further.
We’re officially rolling out full support for USDC and USDT, giving you a faster, more stable, and more flexible way to fund and use your Novacrust account. Whether you’re making routine transactions or managing high-value payments, stablecoins make the entire process smoother and more reliable.
What You Can Now Do
Fund your USD Account with USDC/USDT: Instantly top up using stablecoins across multiple chains, including Solana, Celo, Optimism, Polygon, BNB Smart Chain, Tron, and more.
Payout in Stablecoins: Withdraw or receive payments in USDC or USDT with speed and predictability.
Save in Stablecoins: Hold value in USD-denominated assets without worrying about local currency fluctuations.
Convert to Cash & Send to Local Accounts: Easily convert stablecoins to local currency and send to bank accounts or mobile money in supported countries.
To help you get started, here’s a quick guide on how to access and use USDC and USDT on Novacrust:
At Novacrust, we’re building a borderless payment experience for freelancers, remote workers, and businesses by making it easy to receive and move money across different channels.
A few months ago, we launched USD Accounts in your name, allowing you to receive ACH and Wire transfers seamlessly, convert your funds to local currencies, and even send money to others directly from your dashboard.
Since then, many of you, especially freelancers and remote teams, have asked if we could make receiving payments even more flexible with options like Zelle, Cash App, PayPal, Revolut, and payment links.
We listened.
Now, with Novacrust, you can receive payments through Zelle, Cash App, PayPal, and Revolut – all credited straight to your USD account on Novacrust.
Over 8,000 people search “LemFi” every month, mostly current or soon-to-be users checking rates or looking for support. What LemFi’s own documentation doesn’t advertise as loudly: it’s built for moving money between currencies, not for holding crypto, buying a virtual card, or converting a gift card. If your money needs to do more than travel from one currency to another, that gap is worth knowing about before you pick one app and stop looking.
What LemFi actually does
LemFi is built around international money transfers to Africa and parts of Asia, multi-currency wallets for holding and converting funds, a GBP or USD account for receiving payments, a “send now, pay later” credit feature, and an interest-earning savings wallet for eligible UK users. It’s a genuinely solid, focused product for exactly that job.
What it doesn’t offer, based on its own published service list: buying or selling crypto, a virtual dollar card for online spending, or gift card buying and selling. If any of those are part of how you manage money day to day, LemFi is one piece of a bigger toolkit, not the whole thing.
Novacrust vs LemFi, feature by feature
Feature
LemFi
Novacrust
Send money to 50+ countries
Yes, strong African and Asian corridor coverage
Yes
USD Account with account and routing number
Yes, GBP or USD account
Yes, no SSN or US address required
Buy and sell crypto (USDT, USDC, BTC, ETH, SOL, and more)
Not offered
Yes
Virtual USD card
Not offered
Yes
Buy or sell gift cards
Not offered
Yes
Send now, pay later credit
Yes
Not offered
The pattern is clear: LemFi covers the transfer and account side well, and adds a credit feature Novacrust doesn’t have. Novacrust covers that same ground and adds crypto, a virtual card, and gift cards in the same account, so you’re not opening a second or third app for everything else.
When LemFi is the right call
If all you need is a straightforward way to send money home on a regular corridor, and you like the option to send now and repay later, LemFi does that job well and shouldn’t be dismissed just because it does less. Not everyone needs crypto or a virtual card, and there’s no reason to pay for complexity you won’t use.
When Novacrust is the better fit
If you’re a freelancer paid in dollars who also wants to hold some of it in crypto, spend it internationally on a virtual card, or convert an unused gift card into cash, running that through one account beats stitching together LemFi plus a separate crypto exchange plus a separate card provider. Our guide to choosing the best way to send money internationally covers how to compare the rate itself, whichever app you land on. If crypto is part of your plan, buying USDT safely is worth reading before your first purchase, and if you’ve got a Steam, Amazon, or Apple gift card sitting unused, converting it for crypto instead of letting it sit is covered in our gift card to crypto guide.
FAQ
Does LemFi offer crypto? No. Based on LemFi’s own published service list, its features are international transfers, multi-currency wallets, a GBP or USD account, a send-now-pay-later credit option, and a savings wallet for eligible UK users. Crypto isn’t part of that list.
Does LemFi offer a virtual card? Not based on its published services. Novacrust includes a virtual USD card in the same account as transfers, crypto, and gift cards.
Can I buy or sell gift cards on LemFi? Not based on its published services. This is a Novacrust feature that lets you buy Amazon, Apple, Steam, and Google Play cards, or convert one you already have into cash or crypto.
Which app has better exchange rates, LemFi or Novacrust? Rates shift by corridor and change often on both platforms, so the only reliable way to know is to check both apps’ live rate for your specific transfer before you send.
Can I use both LemFi and Novacrust? Yes. Plenty of people run a remittance-focused app alongside a broader account for crypto, cards, and gift cards. There’s no rule against using more than one, and comparing live rates across apps before a large transfer is generally good practice regardless of which you use.
The bottom line
LemFi does one job well: moving money across a transfer corridor. Novacrust does that same job and adds crypto, a virtual card, and gift cards to the same account, so your money doesn’t need three different homes.
On April 21, 2022, PayPal shut down the one feature that gave you a real virtual card number, and nearly four years later, it still hasn’t brought one back. If you’ve searched “does PayPal have a virtual card” and come up empty, that’s not a search problem. PayPal genuinely doesn’t offer one anymore.
What people actually mean by “virtual card”
A true virtual card number is a masked set of digits that stands in for your real card at checkout. You can generate a fresh one for a single purchase, lock it to one merchant, cap its spending limit, and delete it the moment you’re done with it. If it ever leaks in a breach, you kill that number and your underlying account never gets touched. It’s disposable by design.
That’s what PayPal used to offer, and it’s what a lot of people still assume PayPal offers today.
What happened to PayPal Key
PayPal Key was exactly that: a virtual card system that generated a unique number backed by whatever card or balance you had in your PayPal account. PayPal announced it was ending the service on March 21, 2022, and shut it down for good one month later, on April 21, 2022, according to Doctor of Credit’s coverage of the shutdown. PayPal never announced a direct replacement, and it hasn’t launched one since.
That gap is why “paypal virtual card” and “paypal key” still pull in a steady stream of searches every month. People remember the feature existed. They just don’t realize it’s gone.
What PayPal offers instead
PayPal’s current answer is the PayPal Debit Mastercard, a card linked directly to your PayPal Balance account. When you sign up, PayPal issues you a digital card instantly for online use, with a physical card available on request. That sounds close to a virtual card number, but it isn’t the same thing.
The PayPal Debit Card’s “digital card” is just a digital copy of one fixed card number tied to your balance. You can’t spin up a new number per purchase, lock one to a single site, or burn a single leaked number without closing the whole card. It also requires a PayPal Balance account with ID verification, which in practice means a US-based PayPal account. If your PayPal is tied to an account outside the US, or you don’t want your balance and your checkout number to be the same 16 digits, this doesn’t solve the problem either.
Where you can actually get a real virtual card number
Three real paths exist right now, and each has a catch.
Your existing US bank, if it’s the right one. Citi and Capital One are among the few major US issuers that still generate true virtual numbers, the way we broke down when we checked whether Chase or Bank of America offer the same thing. Both said no. This path only works if you already hold a card with one of the banks that says yes.
Privacy.com. A dedicated virtual card tool built for exactly this use case: unlimited disposable numbers, per-merchant locks, spend caps. The catch is funding. Privacy.com’s own support documentation confirms it only accepts checking accounts and debit cards from US banks or credit unions, no credit cards, and no funding source from outside the US.
A Novacrust USD Virtual Card. This is the option that doesn’t route through a US bank at all. Fund it from your Novacrust balance, USDT, USDC, or another supported crypto, and you get a card number for online spending that isn’t your main account number, generated in minutes with no US address or Social Security number required.
Notice what the first two paths have in common: both assume you already have a foot inside the US banking system. If you don’t, PayPal’s dead end and Privacy.com’s funding requirement land you in the exact same spot.
Which one actually fits you
If you already bank with Citi or Capital One, check whether your existing card already includes virtual numbers before looking anywhere else. If you have a US bank account but no card with virtual numbers built in, Privacy.com is a solid dedicated tool. If neither applies, because you’re outside the US, don’t have a US bank account, or just don’t want your spending tied to a PayPal balance that also holds your savings, a Novacrust USD Virtual Card is built for exactly that gap. For a look at what separates a good virtual card provider from a risky one, our rundown of the security features worth checking is worth reading before you fund any of them. And if you’re comparing several providers side by side rather than just PayPal’s alternatives, our breakdown of how the major USD virtual card options stack up covers that in more detail.
FAQ
Does PayPal have a virtual card number in 2026?
No. PayPal Key, its virtual card number feature, was discontinued on April 21, 2022, and PayPal hasn’t replaced it with an equivalent product.
Isn’t the PayPal Debit Card a virtual card?
Not in the way most people mean it. It’s a digital copy of one fixed card number tied to your PayPal Balance account, not a tool for generating disposable, merchant-locked numbers.
Can I still get PayPal Key somehow?
No. The service is fully shut down for both new and existing users. There’s no waitlist or grandfathered access.
What’s the fastest way to get a real virtual card number without a US bank account?
A Novacrust USD Virtual Card. It’s funded from your Novacrust balance or supported crypto instead of a US bank, so there’s no US address or Social Security number required to get one.
Is a virtual card the same as a prepaid card?
No. A prepaid card is loaded with a fixed balance. A virtual card number is tied to an underlying account and generated specifically to mask your real card details at checkout, which is what a Novacrust USD Virtual Card does.
In July 2026, Malwarebytes flagged a wave of fake “buy gift card with crypto” sites cloned from legitimate ones, some just one or two letters off from the real domain name, quietly taking people’s Bitcoin and delivering nothing in return. Almost 3,000 people search that exact phrase every month, and most have no easy way to tell a real platform from a copy before they pay.
Paying for a gift card with crypto is a real, useful option, not a novelty. Here is how it actually works, what makes it risky, and how to do it without losing money to a lookalike site.
How buying a gift card with crypto actually works
A handful of dedicated marketplaces, Bitrefill and CoinGate among the best known, let you pay in Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDT, and several other coins for gift cards from brands like Amazon, Apple, Uber, and Walmart. You send the crypto, the platform waits for the transaction to confirm on the blockchain, then releases the code. Stablecoins like USDT typically clear in under a minute. Bitcoin can take anywhere from a few minutes to over half an hour, depending on network traffic, since the platform is usually waiting for at least one confirmation before it lets go of a code it cannot get back.
Most of these platforms ask for little to no ID. That sounds convenient, and it is, right up until something goes wrong. The same trade-off shows up on the selling side: skipping verification removes the one thing that protects you if a trade turns bad, because crypto payments do not come with a chargeback.
Why “buy gift card with crypto” has become a target for fake sites
Bitget Wallet’s partnership with Bitrefill, announced in January 2025, put crypto gift card payments in front of users in 130 countries, a sign of how mainstream the demand has gotten. That same demand is exactly why scammers bother cloning these sites. Malwarebytes described the pattern plainly: near-identical copies of real platforms, domains one or two characters off, offering a modest discount like a $100 Amazon card for $95, just believable enough not to raise an eyebrow.
Once you send crypto to the wrong address, there is no bank to call and no chargeback to file. The payment is final the moment it confirms.
Five checks before you pay
Type the URL yourself. Do not click through from an ad or an unfamiliar search result. Go to the site directly or through a link you already trust.
Compare the domain letter by letter. Malwarebytes’ whole point was that these clones are built to survive a glance, not a comparison.
Be suspicious of “no ID required” as a selling point. Minimal verification is normal for small crypto gift card purchases, but a platform that leads with it as a feature is often hiding the fact that it offers you no protection either.
Check the discount is realistic. A card priced noticeably below face value for crypto specifically, not as part of a sitewide sale, is a red flag rather than a bargain.
Confirm the code before you close the tab. Redeem it, or at least check its balance with the retailer directly, before you consider the purchase done.
A simpler path: convert first, then buy
You do not need a dedicated crypto gift card marketplace at all if you already hold USDT, USDC, or another supported coin in a wallet you use for other things. On Novacrust, you convert your crypto balance inside the app you are already verified on, then buy the gift card from that balance in your local currency, all inside one account instead of trusting a second site with your crypto. It is a few minutes slower than paying a crypto gift card site directly, and it comes with the same account verification that protects you if something about the trade looks wrong. If you are doing the reverse, turning a gift card you already have into crypto, that flow works the same way in the other direction.
Can I really buy any gift card with Bitcoin or USDT?
Most major brands, yes, through a dedicated crypto gift card platform or through a wallet app like Novacrust that lets you convert crypto to a balance first. Selection varies by platform and by country.
Do I need ID to buy a gift card with crypto?
Often not, on dedicated crypto gift card marketplaces. That is exactly the trade-off: convenience now, no recourse if the trade goes wrong. Verified platforms ask for more upfront but protect you if something breaks.
Why did my code take 30 minutes to arrive?
Bitcoin transactions need blockchain confirmation before a platform will release a code it cannot reverse. Stablecoin and Ethereum payments usually confirm much faster.
Is it cheaper to buy a gift card with crypto than with a card?
Not usually. The convenience is paying with crypto you already hold, not a discount. Be wary of any platform advertising crypto-specific pricing well below face value.
What is the safest way to buy a gift card with crypto?
Use a platform where you are already verified and can convert crypto to a spendable balance before buying, rather than sending crypto to a marketplace you are using for the first time.
The bottom line
Buying a gift card with crypto is straightforward once you know what you are checking for: a domain you typed yourself, a discount that makes sense, and a code you confirm before you move on.
You can turn a crypto balance into a $50 Amazon, Steam, or Apple gift card in a few minutes, with no bank card and no currency conversion on your side. That is why “buy gift card with crypto” is one of the most searched gift card queries online.
The catch is that gift cards are also the favorite payment method of scammers. The US Federal Trade Commission warns that anyone who demands payment in gift cards is almost certainly running a scam. This guide shows how to buy gift cards with crypto safely, what to check before you pay, and how it works on Novacrust.
Why People Buy Gift Cards With Crypto
Three reasons come up again and again:
You hold crypto but need to spend dollars. A gift card lets you pay for shopping, games, or streaming without selling to a bank account first.
Your local card gets declined. Many cards issued in Africa fail on international checkouts. A gift card works where your card does not.
You want to lock in value. Stablecoins like USDT and USDC keep their dollar value, so a stablecoin-funded gift card costs exactly what you expect.
Which Gift Cards Can You Buy on Novacrust?
Novacrust supports Amazon, Apple, iTunes, Google Play, Steam, Netflix, Razer Gold, Xbox, and PlayStation gift cards. You get access to the card after your payment is confirmed.
Crypto makes gift cards a fast way to spend dollars when your bank card falls short. Buy only for yourself, match the region, and use a platform you trust.
Kenyans abroad sent home about US$5 billion in 2025, according to the Central Bank of Kenya. Families depend on that money for rent, school fees, and emergencies, so every shilling lost to fees and a weak rate matters.
The World Bank’s Remittance Prices Worldwide data shows the global average cost of sending $200 is still around 6.4 percent. This guide covers how to send money to Kenya, what drives the cost, and how it works on Novacrust.
What Makes Sending Money to Kenya Expensive
Three things: a marked-up exchange rate, a flat fee on top, and slow bank routing through correspondent banks. A transfer can look cheap on fees and still lose money in the rate. Compare the shilling amount your recipient actually gets. For a wider comparison, see the best way to send money internationally.
Four Rules for Sending Money to Kenya
Compare the KES amount received, not the fee.
Choose the payout that suits your recipient. Bank deposit works for salaried recipients. Mobile money is faster for those without a nearby branch.
Avoid long bank chains. Every extra bank adds time and cost. See ACH vs Wire vs SWIFT.
Keep your transfer reference. You need it if anything is delayed.
How to Send Money to Kenya on Novacrust
Step 1: Select Kenya
Sign in at novacrust.com, tap Send Money, and choose Kenya.
Step 2: Choose bank deposit or mobile money
Novacrust supports bank deposit and mobile money payouts in Kenya.
Step 3: Check the rate
See the exact KES amount your recipient gets before you confirm.
Step 4: Send
Confirm and you are done.
Selling USDT in Kenya or Converting USDT to KES
Holding USDT and need shillings? You can sell crypto and cash out to Kenyan shillings on Novacrust. Learn how in our guide to converting crypto to local currency, which follows the same steps. You can also fund your account with USDC and USDT.
Need a Virtual Dollar Card in Kenya?
A Novacrust virtual card helps you pay for international subscriptions and online shopping that local cards often decline.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I send money to Kenya?
Use a transfer platform that pays out by bank deposit or mobile money and shows the rate upfront.
Can I send directly to a mobile money wallet?
Yes. Novacrust supports mobile money payouts in Kenya.
What is the cheapest way to send money to Kenya?
The one where your recipient receives the most shillings after fees and rate.
The Bottom Line
Sending money to Kenya should not eat several percent of every transfer. See the rate first, pick the payout that fits, and keep your reference.
The Bank of Ghana says remittances reached nearly US$7.8 billion in 2025, more than the country received in foreign direct investment. Behind that number are millions of transfers from family abroad, and fees and weak rates take a cut of each one.
A marked-up cedi rate, a flat fee, and slow routing through intermediary banks. The fee you see is rarely the full cost. Compare what your recipient receives in cedis. For more on costs, read the best way to send money internationally.
Four Rules for Sending Money to Ghana
Compare the GHS amount received.
Pick the right payout. Bank deposit or mobile money, whichever your recipient uses daily.
Jamaica received about US$3.49 billion in remittances in 2025, a record according to Bank of Jamaica data. Many of those transfers are from family abroad covering everyday costs and, after Hurricane Melissa, rebuilding.
The rate is where money hides. A provider can advertise a low fee and still pay out fewer Jamaican dollars. Compare the JMD amount received. See also the best way to send money internationally.
Four Rules for Sending Money to Jamaica
Compare the JMD amount received.
Confirm the bank details. Name, account number, and branch must match exactly.
Sub-Saharan Africa is the most expensive region in the world to send money to, according to the World Bank’s Remittance Prices Worldwide data. For families in Malawi, a few percent lost per transfer adds up quickly.
Here is how to send money to Malawi, what drives the cost, and how it works on Novacrust.
The World Bank’s Migration and Development Brief named Mozambique as a driver of Sub-Saharan remittance growth, with inflows up 48.5 percent in 2023. More families now depend on transfers from abroad, so cost and speed matter.
The Remittance Prices Worldwide database tracks what sending costs on each corridor. Here is how to send money to Mozambique and keep more of it.
