The hidden FX tax on global startups — and the crypto card fix

Kolo, a crypto Visa card and wallet that operates as a mobile app and within Telegram, is pitching itself as a solution to a problem most founders feel but rarely budget for: the cost of moving money across borders. The product lets users top up a balance with the stablecoin USDT over the TRC20 network and spend anywhere Visa is accepted, without downloading a separate banking app.

For a generation of companies built on distributed teams, currency conversion has quietly become a recurring tax. A founder in London paying a developer in Tbilisi, a designer in Manila and a dollar-denominated cloud bill is exposed to exchange spreads and cross-border charges at almost every step — and for early-stage businesses on thin runway, those costs compound faster than most spreadsheets show.

WHY DO DISTRIBUTED STARTUPS LOSE MONEY ON EVERY CROSS-BORDER PAYMENT?

Traditional banks and card networks often add 2–4% in foreign-exchange and cross-border fees on international transactions, and bank wires can take several business days to settle. Each conversion — funding a foreign account, paying an overseas contractor, settling a subscription billed in another currency — carries its own spread. None of it appears as a single line item called "FX tax," which is precisely why it goes unmanaged.

The pain is sharpest for founders in markets where a domestic US-dollar bank account is hard to obtain. Entrepreneurs across the CIS region, the Gulf and parts of Eastern Europe frequently run global businesses while being locked out of conventional dollar banking, pushing them toward workarounds that are slow, expensive, or both.

HOW DO CRYPTO CARDS CUT THE COST OF GLOBAL BUSINESS SPENDING?

Crypto cards settle from a stablecoin balance rather than a domestic bank account. Because the underlying asset is usually USDT — a dollar-pegged token that moves on public blockchains — the cost of getting funds onto the card is decoupled from the correspondent-banking system that drives most cross-border fees. The card itself runs on Visa or Mastercard rails, so the merchant experience is identical to any other tap-to-pay transaction.

A growing field of providers now issues such products, including Crypto.com, Wirex, Coinbase and Kolo. They differ mainly in how funds are loaded, which assets and networks are supported, the countries served, and whether business accounts are offered.

HOW DOES KOLO'S CRYPTO CARD WORK FOR BUSINESSES?

Kolo issues both virtual and physical Visa cards. Users top up by sending USDT over the TRC20 network — where transfer fees are typically under a dollar regardless of the amount — and the balance becomes spendable at any Visa merchant. The wallet and card live inside Telegram as a mini-app, so there is no separate application to download or an app store review to wait on.

For companies, Kolo offers dedicated business cards, allowing a team to spend from a shared stablecoin balance rather than reconciling personal cards and reimbursements. Cards can be issued to residents of more than 60 countries and spent anywhere Visa is accepted, and the platform also runs a Bitcoin cashback program on spending. The US is not currently a supported market.

WHICH COUNTRIES CAN ISSUE A KOLO CARD?

Kolo cards can be issued in more than 60 countries, with particular traction across the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, the Baltics and the CIS region.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

• What is a crypto card for business?

A crypto card for business is a Visa or Mastercard funded from a cryptocurrency or stablecoin balance rather than a bank account, letting companies spend digital assets at ordinary merchants and pay distributed teams without routing every transaction through correspondent banks.

• How do you top up a Kolo card?

Users send USDT over the TRC20 network to their Kolo wallet inside Telegram. The balance then becomes spendable on the linked Visa card anywhere Visa is accepted.

• Does Kolo offer business or B2B cards?

Yes. Kolo issues dedicated business cards so a company can spend from a shared stablecoin balance, in addition to its personal virtual and physical cards.

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