Crypto card frenzy: What's behind the new payments boom

Traders Union
All News
Editors' Picks
Crypto card frenzy

Crypto cards hit a record

The July record was more than double the roughly $306 million spent a year earlier, while the number of monthly purchases climbed from about 5.2 million to nearly 8.8 million, according to Paymentscan data highlighted by a16z crypto.

View post on X Loading...

The tweet was deleted by the author.

But we saved everything 🙂.

The companies benefiting from the boom are not necessarily the exchanges that first popularized crypto cards. RedotPay dominated tracked spending with about $395 million in July, followed by EtherFi, KAST and Karta. RedotPay alone accounted for more than half of the volume captured by Paymentscan.

What is a crypto card, really?

Despite the name, paying with a crypto card usually does not mean sending cryptocurrency directly to a shop. In most cases, the merchant never touches crypto at all.

A user holds Bitcoin, Ether or, increasingly, stablecoins such as USDC and USDT with a card provider. When the card is used, the provider handles the conversion or settlement behind the scenes, while the merchant receives ordinary currency through existing Visa or Mastercard infrastructure.

That helps explain why crypto cards have succeeded where direct cryptocurrency payments have struggled. Merchants do not need crypto wallets, blockchain infrastructure or new checkout systems. From their perspective, the transaction looks much like any other card payment.

Stablecoins changed the equation

Early crypto cards were often marketed as a way to spend Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. But using a volatile investment to pay for everyday purchases presents an obvious problem. Many holders do not want to sell an asset they expect to appreciate, while doing so may also create tax consequences depending on the jurisdiction.

Stablecoins make the proposition considerably more practical. Someone holding digital dollars can spend them without first sending the assets to an exchange, converting them into fiat and withdrawing the money to a bank account.

The shift is visible in the numbers. USDC accounted for roughly 58% of crypto-card spending tracked in July, while USDT represented another 26%.

Where crypto cards are finding users

The appeal is not necessarily the same everywhere. In countries with mature banking systems and stable currencies, crypto cards compete with debit cards, credit cards and digital wallets that already work well. Their attraction may come mainly from convenience, rewards or the ability to spend stablecoin balances without moving money back into a bank account.

The picture looks different in markets where crypto already plays a larger role in savings and cross-border money movement. In Argentina, stablecoins have become popular as an alternative to the volatile peso, while Ukraine ranked eighth globally for crypto adoption in Chainalysis’ 2025 index. Nigeria offers another indication of the scale involved, recording more than $92 billion in on-chain stablecoin flows over a recent 12-month period.

Yellow Card CEO Chris Maurice points to another advantage in markets where moving dollars through the banking system can be difficult. "You are removing the need for banks to settle dollars, which is a big burden for these banks," he said.

Crypto meets the networks it was supposed to replace

There is an irony at the center of the crypto-card boom. Cryptocurrency was partly conceived as an alternative to traditional financial intermediaries, yet one of its fastest-growing payment products relies heavily on the world's largest card networks.

Visa says stablecoin-linked cards on its network processed approximately $5.2 billion in 2025, up 319% from the previous year. It now supports more than 130 stablecoin-funded card programs across over 50 countries. Mastercard does not disclose comparable card volume, but says crypto-card users can spend their holdings across more than 150 million acceptance locations worldwide, with programs involving companies including Binance, Crypto.com, Kraken, MetaMask and Nexo.

Visa expects the category to become considerably larger. "Five years from now, I think it's going to be a really big product category for us," said Cuy Sheffield, the company's head of crypto.

Convenience comes with trade-offs

Crypto cards are not an escape from the traditional financial system. Most require identity verification and rely on issuers, custodians, banking partners and Visa or Mastercard. Depending on the provider, users may also encounter conversion spreads, foreign exchange charges or ATM fees.

Tax treatment can add another complication, particularly when cards automatically sell volatile cryptocurrencies to fund purchases. Providers carry their own business risks as well. RedotPay, currently the largest platform in Paymentscan's data, is facing a legal dispute with Binance-linked entities over allegations involving their previous commercial relationship and the movement of users to RedotPay. The company disputes the claims.

Are crypto cards really crypto adoption?

Crypto cards remain small compared with conventional payment networks, but their rapid growth suggests that everyday crypto adoption may look different from what the industry once imagined. Consumers do not necessarily need shops to accept stablecoins directly if existing card infrastructure can make those assets spendable almost anywhere.

For now, crypto cards are not replacing Visa and Mastercard. They are using those networks to connect digital assets with the financial system people already use every day.

This material may contain third-party opinions, none of the data and information on this webpage constitutes investment advice according to our Disclaimer. While we adhere to strict Editorial Integrity, this post may contain references to products from our partners.