Crypto Card Payments Surge to $18 Billion Annualized: The New Standard for Stablecoin Spending

gas_fee_therapist · 2026-02-01T09:10:58+00:00

Crypto cards are rapidly transforming the digital payments landscape, with their monthly transaction volumes soaring from $100 million to over $1.5 billion. Their infrastructure compatibility with existing payment networks explains their market dominance, despite the growing stablecoin settlement options. USDT remains the leading stablecoin globally, with notable exceptions in India and Argentina favoring USDC. Visa dominates the crypto card ecosystem, leveraging traditional payment systems to facilitate transactions.

gas_fee_therapist

2026-02-01 09:10:58

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The digital payments landscape is experiencing a dramatic shift as crypto cards emerge as the fastest-growing payment segment globally. According to recent analysis, monthly volumes have skyrocketed from approximately $100 million in early 2023 to over $1.5 billion by 2025’s end—a compound annual growth rate of 106%. This explosive expansion has transformed crypto card payments into a market worth roughly $18 billion on an annualized basis, now standing shoulder-to-shoulder with peer-to-peer stablecoin transfers valued at $19 billion annually.

Why Crypto Cards Have Become the Dominant Payment Bridge

Despite significant interest in enabling direct stablecoin payments at merchants, crypto cards continue to lead the market for a straightforward reason: infrastructure compatibility. Unlike direct stablecoin settlement—which requires merchants to adopt new payment systems—coin card solutions leverage existing Visa and Mastercard networks, eliminating integration barriers. This technological advantage explains why cards maintain such commanding market share. Even stablecoin-native settlement, though growing, remains in early stages: Visa’s stablecoin-linked card volume reached just a $3.5 billion annualized run rate in Q4 2025, representing approximately 19% of total crypto card volume.

The Global Stablecoin Story: USDT Dominance With Regional Exceptions

Across most markets worldwide, USDT maintains overwhelming supremacy in stablecoin volume, yet two countries present intriguing deviations. India and Argentina stand as remarkable global outliers where USDC usage nearly rivals USDT, capturing 47.4% and 46.6% of stablecoin volumes respectively. These exceptions highlight how regional factors—regulatory environment, local banking relationships, and payment infrastructure—shape cryptocurrency adoption patterns. India’s emergence as Asia-Pacific’s largest crypto market by capital inflow further underscores this shift, with $338 billion in value flowing into the region over the 12 months ending June 2025, representing extraordinary 4,800% growth across five years.

The Emerging Infrastructure: Who Controls Crypto Card Payments

The crypto card ecosystem fundamentally operates on traditional Visa and Mastercard rails, with Visa capturing over 90% of on-chain card volume through strategic early partnerships with crypto-native infrastructure providers. This concentration reflects Visa’s dominant position in establishing the payment standards that define how crypto becomes spendable currency. The coin card market represents the intersection of traditional payment infrastructure and digital asset innovation, creating a bridge that millions now use daily for everyday transactions.

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