SiraPay review

This provider advertises cards that don't require an identity check (KYC) which are extremely risky.

They usually carry high loading fees, payable only in cryptocurrency, and tend to rely on a compliance loophole in a card program that was never approved for anonymous customers.

When the issuing bank or card network discovers the program, cards are cancelled without warning and balances are frozen, with no certainty about whether or when the money is returned.

How they are issued

Banks and card networks are required by US banking laws to identify the holders of reloadable cards. A provider that skips these mandatory checks is usually issuing through a program set up for something else, such as corporate expense cards, where the issuing bank never learns who holds each card.

Why they stop working

Once the bank or card network discovers this loophole, they are legally required to close the program. Every card issued on that program is cancelled, often overnight, leaving cardholders in a regulatory no-man's-land, where nobody is clearly responsible for returning your money.

What happens to your balance

Your money sits with the provider, not in an account in your name. Getting it back depends on the provider and on whatever its former issuer still holds. The balance is not insured, a chargeback is rarely possible, and there is often no named company or regulator to turn to.