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Virtual cards (roadmap)

What it will be

Section titled “What it will be”

Single-use and subscription-scoped virtual credit cards, issued on demand:

  • Per-merchant card — locked to one merchant by Visa/Mastercard merchant ID. If the merchant changes owner or runs a second charge under a different MID, the card declines.
  • Amount-bounded card — caps total authorized amount. Exceeding the cap declines without deactivating.
  • Expiry-bounded card — auto-closes after a set duration, regardless of merchant activity.
  • Use-once card — single transaction, then closes automatically.

Cancelling a card is a one-tap action. The subscription cannot renew because the payment instrument no longer exists.

Issuer partner

Section titled “Issuer partner”

Stripe Issuing, most likely. Reasons:

  • Katafract already holds a live Stripe account for platform billing.
  • Stripe Issuing handles the bank-partner relationship + money-services compliance.
  • Developer API surface is clean and matches the rest of the platform’s Stripe integration.

Alternative: Marqeta. More flexible but higher minimums and longer onboarding; we’d only switch if Stripe’s policies materially constrained the product.

Regulatory reality

Section titled “Regulatory reality”

US virtual-card issuance intersects with state money-services regulation. Running our own program (BIN sponsor + custodial accounts + KYC) takes 6-12 months and a compliance officer. Using Stripe Issuing means Stripe’s bank partner is the legal issuer and we’re the program operator — roughly 90% less regulatory overhead. We will ship via Stripe Issuing.

Global expansion is TBD; Stripe Issuing is US + UK + EU only today. Residents of other countries will see a “coming soon” page.

Pricing model

Section titled “Pricing model”

Candidate structure:

  • Sovereign tier includes N virtual cards/month (probably 10).
  • Overage: $0.50 per additional card or a “Sovereign+” add-on.
  • All transaction fees are cost-plus; no hidden margin on interchange.

Locked-in when the product gets closer to ship.

Subscription audit side-effect

Section titled “Subscription audit side-effect”

Because Katafract sees where your virtual cards are charged, the app naturally becomes a subscription auditor — “you’re paying $X/mo to services you forgot.” The audit data never leaves your device. Cross-sell into MeridianMosaic (Plaid-backed personal finance history, sibling Mosaic-family brand) is possible but not automatic.

Target timeline

Section titled “Target timeline”

Not committed. 6-8 weeks of solo founder work after Authenticator + Keyring are in flight.

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