Lithic vs Ankr

About

Lithic is a card issuing and payment infrastructure platform built for developers and product teams building embedded payment experiences. Founded in 2016 and headquartered in New York City, the company has raised over $60 million in funding. Lithic provides APIs for virtual and physical card issuance, transaction authorization, spend controls, and payment data that companies integrate into their software products to add card-based financial capabilities.\n\nLithic's developer-first approach distinguishes it in the card issuing space — the platform is designed for technical teams who want to integrate card functionality directly into their product without the overhead of working through traditional banking infrastructure. Its sandbox environment allows developers to test card programs end-to-end before going live, and its documentation and SDK support accelerate time to production. Lithic handles the regulatory infrastructure including BIN sponsorship, network membership, and issuer licensing on behalf of its customers.\n\nLithic's card programs support a range of use cases including corporate expense cards, marketplace disbursement cards, gaming and rewards cards, and B2B payment cards. The platform's programmable spend controls allow issuers to set merchant category restrictions, transaction limits, and velocity controls that enforce specific spending policies for each card type. Lithic has focused on transparency and pricing clarity as differentiators in a market where interchange economics and interchange sharing structures are often opaque.