What Is Gnosis Pay and Its Role in the Picnic Card

Gnosis Pay is the infrastructure that makes the Picnic card work. It connects a balance held in a self-custody account to the Visa network, so that balance can be used at a card terminal, in an online store or abroad, like any debit card.

Paying with a regular card from a balance that stays under your control, and not in a bank's vault, sounds simple. It isn't. In this post, we explain who Gnosis Pay is and what role it plays in the card.

What is Gnosis Pay?

Gnosis Pay is a platform for launching stablecoin card programs. It offers card issuing, on- and off-ramps, and multi-currency accounts for wallets, fintechs, exchanges and payment processors.

A few facts Gnosis Pay itself states on its website:

• the Gnosis Pay debit card is issued by Monavate Limited, under a license from Visa Europe;
• accounts can be self-custodial, with funds held in a Safe smart account;
• its acceptance network covers more than 80 million merchants.

Gnosis Pay was born in the Gnosis ecosystem, the same organization behind Gnosis Chain, the network where card balances are held.

How does Gnosis Pay work in the Picnic card?

The Picnic card was built on Gnosis Pay's infrastructure. For people who already have the card, it looks like this:

1. The card balance sits in an account of yours. The card money is held in a Safe on Gnosis Chain, not in a Picnic account or a bank account. When you pay, the amount leaves that account at the moment of purchase.
2. Visa sees a regular debit card. To the store, it is a card like any other. Behind the scenes, Gnosis Pay bridges the purchase authorization and the balance in your account.
3. You control the card from the app. Virtual and physical cards, freezing and unfreezing, viewing the card details, checking your purchase history and adjusting limits are all in the Picnic app.
4. Top-ups and withdrawals. You can add money to the card, including via Pix, and move the balance back to your account.

Because spending comes from a balance that is already in digital currency in your account, purchases with the Picnic card have no IOF (Brazil's tax on foreign-exchange transactions), the tax that costs 3.5% on international purchases with traditional cards. We go into detail on how the balance works in how the Picnic card dollar balance works.

What if you don't have the card yet?

Right now, new Picnic card orders go to a waitlist in the app. People who already have the card keep using it normally, with all the features above. When there is news about new orders, it will show up in the app.

Why does this matter to you?

Many crypto-linked cards work like this: you deposit with the company, the company holds the balance and, when you pay, it sells a portion on your behalf. If the company freezes withdrawals, your balance is stuck.

The Gnosis Pay model is different. The balance sits in a smart account under your control, and the card is simply the way to spend that balance in the physical world. It is the same self-custody logic as the rest of Picnic, carried all the way to the card terminal. If you want to understand what works and what is just a promise when it comes to spending crypto, see can you spend crypto abroad? (in Portuguese).

Thank you, Gnosis Pay

Connecting a self-custody account to the Visa network required someone to solve issuing, regulation, settlement and security all at once. Gnosis Pay did that work, and the Picnic card only exists because that foundation exists. Thank you to the Gnosis Pay team for opening this path and for the partnership.

Picnic is a technology platform that lets users independently interact with USDC, a U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin issued by Circle, on public blockchains. USDC is not legal tender in Brazil.

Displayed exchange rates vary with market conditions. The final applicable amount is the one shown on the transaction confirmation screen. Cryptoassets involve risks, including volatility and loss of peg.

Picnic does not custody user assets and is neither a financial institution nor a virtual asset service provider. Sending and receiving U.S. dollar payments through a U.S. account is offered in partnership with Noah Savings Inc. Terms and conditions apply.

Information verified in April 2026.