Fold Stock Pops, Then Plunges After Revealing Bitcoin Rewards Visa Credit Card Plans

Bitcoin financial services company Fold Holdings announced Tuesday that its previously delayed BTC rewards credit card will run on the Visa network thanks to a team-up with financial infrastructure firm Stripe. But while Fold’s stock (Nasdaq: FLD) started off hot on the day, it quickly plunged.

The Fold Bitcoin Credit Card will let users accumulate Bitcoin through everyday spending, offering up to 3.5% back on all purchases with no spending categories or deposit requirements, the company said.

Users earn an unlimited 2% back instantly, plus up to 1.5% additional when paying through their Fold Checking Account. Enhanced rewards of up to 10% are available with major partners, including Amazon, Target, Home Depot, Uber, Starbucks, and hundreds of other brands.

FLD opened at a price of $4.69 on Tuesday after closing at $3.88 on Monday. However, the buzz didn’t last, with the price plunging to $3.32 as of this writing, marking a more than 14% dip on the day.

“Our credit card offers clear and compelling value and makes Bitcoin easily accessible to everyone,” said Fold founder, Chairman, and CEO Will Reeves, in a statement. “There are no categories to manage, no tokens to stake, no exchange account or balance requirements; just real Bitcoin, earned automatically with every purchase.”

No timeline has been announced for the Fold credit card’s release.

Stripe said that it has already processed over $3.1 billion in transaction volume and distributed more than $83 million in Bitcoin rewards. The company also holds 1,485 BTC in its treasury, worth about $167 million at present.

Fold’s stock surged on Friday, roughly doubling in price and peaking above $7 per share amid speculation that veteran crypto industry investor Mike Alfred was joining the company.

Instead, another publicly traded crypto company, Bakkt, announced Alfred’s appointment to its advisory board on Monday, prompting its own stock spike. Bakkt is up nearly another 18% so far on Tuesday, rising to $17.31 as of this writing.

The price of FLD fell on Monday following the Bakkt appointment announcement, and has continued to fall on Tuesday. Even so, FLD remains up about 8% over the last week, though it’s down about 12% on the month.

Bitcoin itself is roughly flat on the day at a current price of $112,774, but has fallen about 3% on the week.

Myriad Markets users have recently turned bearish on the top cryptocurrency’s chances of rising to $125,000—which would be a new all-time high mark—sooner than it can fall to $105,000.

As of this writing, 53% of predictors expect it to hit the lower mark sooner than the higher price. That mark has grown substantially over the last week, rising from about 38% on September 16.

(Disclaimer: Myriad Markets is a unit of Decrypt’s parent company, DASTAN.)