Krak Card or MetaMask Card: Custodial or Not

These two cards look similar on a comparison table and differ in the one place that matters most: custody.

Custody is the difference: Kraken holds one balance, you hold the other

Krak spends from a balance held by Kraken. MetaMask Card spends from a wallet you control, drawing on an on-chain allowance at the moment of payment. That single difference produces most of the others.

With Krak, the exchange can freeze the balance and can also help you when something breaks. With MetaMask, nobody can freeze it and nobody can recover it either.

Krak is simpler; MetaMask removes a counterparty

Krak is simpler. No gas token, no spending cap to administer, no funding network to choose, and conversion happens inside one company. It also spends from a very wide range of assets and can split one payment across several of them.

MetaMask removes a counterparty and suits people already thinking in keys and approvals, at the cost of managing an allowance and keeping gas available.

Choosing

If your crypto already sits on Kraken and you want spending to be uneventful, Krak is the honest answer. If self-custody is the point, the extra administration is the price of not having a custodian.

Compare both in our table: Krak Card and MetaMask Card.