How Startale Card Verification Works and Why It Keeps You Safe
Startale Card is rolling out to waitlist users in priority rank order. Everyone who gets access must verify their identity before they can start spending with their card. Once verified, your onchain assets can power everyday spending on a global card network. This guide walks through exactly what to expect, how long it takes and where your information actually goes.
Why Verification Is Required
Startale Card is issued in partnership with Rain, an enterprise-grade infrastructure provider for stablecoin-powered payments. Operating on a global card network means every cardholder must be identity-verified, the same standard that applies to any payment card.
Verification also protects you. It prevents others from opening a card in your name, keeps stolen identities out of the system and allows merchants worldwide to accept the card you tap.
Before You Start
Verification takes about 5 minutes, and applying is free. Have these ready:
- A valid government-issued ID: A passport or driver's license. Make sure it's not expired and legible on both sides of the card.
- Your phone number, email, and residential address
- A well-lit spot: You'll photograph your ID and complete a quick face check with your camera.
One note on availability: Startale Card is available where applicable eligibility requirements are met. You'll see whether the card is available to you during the application, and availability may expand over time.
The Verification Flow, Step by Step
- Start your application. You’ll see a notification in your Card tab on your Startale App. Tap Start my application to begin the 5-minute application.
- Confirm your residence and accept the terms. After a brief consent screen explaining how your identity will be verified, confirm your country of residence.
- Verify your email and phone. Your email comes pre-filled from your waitlist sign-up. Confirm it with a 6-digit code. Then verify your phone number by SMS; this number is also used to confirm your identity for online payments.
- Tell us about you. Your name, date of birth, and tax or national ID number, followed by your address and a short finance questionnaire.
- Complete the ID check. You’ll be prompted to photograph the front and back of your ID (passport or driver's license), then complete a quick face check to confirm it's really you. This takes about two minutes to complete.
- Review your agreements. The terms that apply to your region are shown before the application is complete. After that, your application goes into review, and you can check its status in the app anytime.
While Your Application Is in Review
Review can take up to 5 business days, though many applications are completed much sooner. When your card is approved and ready, you'll be notified in the app and by email. Once approved, tap Activate card in Startale App and set how much USDSC backs your card. Your assets serve as collateral for your spending, and you can adjust the amount anytime in settings.
Where Your Documents Actually Go
Document capture and the liveness check run through a specialized identity-verification flow that submits your documents directly to Rain, the card issuer's compliance infrastructure. Startale never sees, stores, or processes your ID images or biometric data.
If Verification Doesn't Go Through
Most rejections are fixable. If your application comes back with an issue like an unclear photo or a document that couldn't be read, you'll see a "Retry identity check" button in the app. Retake the photos with better lighting and resubmit. A few quick tips that prevent most retries: use an unexpired ID, avoid glare on the document, and make sure the details you typed match your ID exactly.
If an application can't be approved after review, the app will direct you to support for next steps.
A crypto card for the real world
Identity verification is the doorway between your onchain assets and 150 million merchant locations, a few minutes of setup for a card you can use at merchants worldwide. If you're in the current rollout wave, Startale App will walk you through it. If you haven’t received access yet, you can move up the queue through the Startale App.
Startale Card availability, features, and terms are subject to applicable requirements and may vary. The Startale Card is issued by Rain and operates on a global card network. The Startale Card is a separate product from Startale App's other services, including Earn, yield, cashback, swaps, and USDSC balances. Any product or service offered by Startale outside the card program is subject to its own separate terms and conditions. The card issuer is not a party to any agreement between you and Startale regarding those products and is not responsible for any transaction, loan, or arrangement that is not a card transaction.