To comply with international regulatory requirements and applicable sanctions, Pionex Card restricts payments only for merchants located in specific sanctioned regions. Pionex Card is supported for transactions in all countries and regions worldwide, EXCEPT for the 8 restricted areas listed below (Afghanistan, Venezuela, Russia, Myanmar, Ukraine, North Korea, Iran, and Belarus). If the merchant is located outside these 8 areas and accepts Visa or Mastercard, payments will work as normal, subject to the merchant's own payment policies.
List of Restricted Countries / Regions
Afghanistan
Venezuela
Russia
Myanmar
Ukraine
North Korea
Iran
Belarus
Scope of Restrictions
Merchants that are registered in or operating from the above countries or regions are not supported for payments made with Pionex Visa or Mastercard.
If a transaction involves a merchant associated with any of the restricted countries or regions listed above, the payment may be automatically declined by the system.
This list is about where a card can be spent. Whether you can apply for a card is a separate question, decided by the country/region on your completed identity verification (KYC) and shown on the card application page — appearing on this list, or not appearing on it, does not answer that question. See the section below for which card you can apply for.
The list above reflects sanctions/compliance restrictions only, and applies the same way regardless of your card's issuing channel. A separate, narrower restriction set by the card network/issuing channel itself is covered below under "Card-Network Channel Restrictions" — that restriction is unrelated to sanctions and does not appear in the 8-country list.
Card-Network Channel Restrictions (by Issuing BIN)
Separately from the sanctions-based restrictions above, a Pionex Card's issuing channel (identified by its card BIN) can carry its own, narrower spending restriction set by the card network — unrelated to sanctions, KYC region, account risk control, or card balance.
Confirmed restriction: A Pionex Mastercard issued through the Dogpay channel (BIN 5371) cannot currently be used to pay merchants located in South Africa (ZA). This applies across merchant categories (for example, supermarkets, telecoms, ride-hailing, restaurants, retail) — the card network declines these transactions at the channel level, regardless of your card balance or account status.
This list reflects channel restrictions confirmed so far and is not necessarily exhaustive — card-network policies can change or add new restrictions over time. If your card is repeatedly declined in a specific country while your card is active, has sufficient balance, and the merchant is outside the 8-country sanctions list above, this may be another undocumented channel-level restriction; please contact Pionex Support so we can verify and update this article.
What you can do: Switch to another payment method to pay the merchant.
Which Card You Can Apply For (Visa or Mastercard)
Applying is a separate question from the spending list above. Which card you can apply for is decided by the country/region on your completed KYC and is shown on the card application page in the app. The restricted-merchant list above does not decide it.
The application page shows the card available to you. Most regions apply for the Pionex Visa Card. In a region where the Visa Card is not open to new applicants, the application page offers the Pionex Mastercard instead. The app determines this from your verified region when you apply.
Card-issuance eligibility can change as compliance policies change. Which brand (or whether a card is offered at all) in a given region may be updated over time. For example, effective 2026-08-14, Pionex stopped accepting new Visa Card applications from Belarus; applicants verified in Belarus are now offered the Pionex Mastercard instead. Always check the card application page in the app for the option currently available in your region.
Which brand you can apply for follows the country/region on your completed KYC, and nothing else. Closing and reapplying, an upgrade, a higher KYC level, or contacting support does not change it. A card already issued keeps its brand and stays valid — existing cardholders cannot switch their card to a different card organization (for example, from Visa to Mastercard, or vice versa).
Important Notes
These restrictions are implemented in accordance with international compliance and sanctions requirements and are not targeted at individual users.
The list of restricted countries and regions may be updated from time to time in response to changes in international regulations, legal requirements, or compliance obligations.
Please refer to Pionex's official announcements or the Help Center for the most up-to-date information.