Crypto cost card spending has jumped 2.5 occasions from a 12 months earlier to attain $759 million in July, supported by practically 9 million purchases settled primarily via dollar-backed stablecoins.
Abstract
- July spending rose from $306 million a 12 months earlier to $759 million.
- Cardholders accomplished practically 9 million purchases with a median worth of about $86.
- USDC and USDT accounted for a mixed 84% of tracked spending.
- Optimism led blockchain settlement with 29%, adopted by Solana and Base at 19% every.
A16z crypto reported the figures utilizing knowledge from Paymentscan, which tracks cost exercise linked to crypto card packages throughout a number of blockchains.
The month-to-month complete has climbed from lower than $1 million in October 2023, when Paymentscan started monitoring the market, to greater than three-quarters of a billion {dollars}. Card buy counts have risen alongside spending, reaching practically 9 million in July from about 5.2 million throughout the identical month final 12 months.
In accordance to the report, the 2 measures produced a median buy worth of roughly $86. Paymentscan’s knowledge covers on-chain exercise that it could actually join to particular person card packages, though the dataset handles its largest program in another way.
RedotPay, which generated probably the most quantity amongst tracked issuers, self-reported its spending relatively than having the transactions straight noticed on-chain. A16z recognized the excellence in its methodology, making RedotPay’s numbers depending on data equipped by the corporate.
Crypto card spending has moved towards greenback stablecoins
USDC dealt with about 58% of crypto card spending in July, whereas USDT accounted for an additional 26%, in accordance to Paymentscan. One 12 months earlier, their respective shares stood at roughly 48% and seven%, that means USDT recorded the bigger improve over the interval.
Collectively, the 2 dollar-backed tokens processed 84% of the card quantity tracked in July. The figures correspond with separate Visa knowledge displaying USDC has taken a big share of payment-related stablecoin exercise.
In June, USDC processed about $1.21 trillion of the $1.79 trillion in adjusted stablecoin transfers recorded by Visa’s on-chain analytics dashboard, whereas USDT dealt with roughly $576 billion. As crypto.news previously reported, adjusted switch quantity rose 63% from Could and 125% from June 2025, even because the stablecoin market’s complete worth declined by $7.7 billion.
Euro-backed tokens have misplaced their early lead in the card phase. A16z mentioned EURe settled shut to 88% of card spending in early 2024, a lot of it via Gnosis, however its share had fallen to round 2% by July.
The change in token use occurred as card issuers added help for extra blockchains and dollar-backed property. Paymentscan’s figures confirmed that USDC’s share gained about 10 proportion factors over the previous 12 months, whereas USDT’s share elevated by about 19 factors.
Optimism leads crypto card settlement by chain
Optimism processed roughly 29% of tracked crypto card spending in July, inserting it forward of Solana and Base, which every carried about 19%, Paymentscan knowledge confirmed. Gnosis accounted for about 2% after serving as the primary settlement chain through the market’s early stage.
Gnosis Pay helped produce that preliminary focus by introducing what a16z described as the primary Visa card related straight to a self-custodial pockets. As extra issuers entered the market, settlement exercise unfold throughout networks providing totally different cost and pockets infrastructure.
Solana’s share additionally comes as cost suppliers launch playing cards that use the community for stablecoin transactions. In Could, Solayer launched a Visa card that lets prospects spend USDC from the Solana-based Solayer InfiniSVM community. The Solayer card launch adopted the opening of Visa and Bridge’s stablecoin card program in 18 international locations.
Base, an Ethereum layer-2 community developed by Coinbase, matched Solana’s 19% share in the Paymentscan dataset. Optimism and Base collectively processed practically half of the measured quantity, whereas Gnosis’ share fell as EURe use declined.
Crypto playing cards join stablecoin balances with Visa retailers
Crypto cost playing cards enable prospects to maintain stablecoins with a card supplier or preserve them in a supported self-custodial pockets, relying on the product. At checkout, the service converts the digital property into the service provider’s native fiat foreign money and sends the cost via a longtime card community.
A16z mentioned retailers usually obtain the transaction in the identical kind as a regular card cost, eradicating the necessity for them to straight settle for or handle crypto. Clients can use the product wherever the supporting card community operates, whereas the issuer handles the conversion and settlement course of.
Some packages additionally present entry to dollar-denominated balances with out requiring customers to preserve a standard checking account. Custodial providers maintain the stablecoins for the cardholder, whereas self-custodial merchandise enable prospects to retain management via an on-chain pockets till funds are used.
Morph launched one other self-custodial mannequin in August, though its product focuses on direct enterprise funds as an alternative of card spending. The non-custodial payment platform lets companies and freelancers obtain USDC and USDT straight into their wallets via invoices and cost hyperlinks.
Paymentscan’s tracked card packages used Visa nearly completely, in accordance to a16z. Regardless of the rise to $759 million, the report famous that crypto playing cards stay small in contrast with established card networks, which course of trillions of {dollars} every month.
U.S. guidelines are shaping dollar-backed cost tokens
For U.S. customers, crypto playing cards mix a standard card transaction with a stablecoin issued and managed underneath a creating federal framework. The GENIUS Act, signed into regulation in July 2025, established federal requirements for cost stablecoin issuers, together with necessities tied to reserves, redemption, and supervision.
In February, the Workplace of the Comptroller of the Foreign money proposed guidelines to implement elements of the regulation. The OCC stablecoin proposal coated reserve composition, liquidity, redemption procedures, capital remedy, and federal oversight of accepted issuers.
Visa has continued to construct providers round a number of stablecoins relatively than committing its cost community to one token. In the course of the firm’s July 28 earnings name, CEO Ryan McInerney described its technique as “multi-coin, multi-chain” and mentioned Visa’s function was “not to choose winners.”
The card firm additionally helps Open USD, a deliberate stablecoin backed by a consortium of greater than 140 corporations, whereas sustaining connections with present tokens and settlement merchandise. Visa launched a platform in July that offers banks, fintech corporations, and crypto companies entry to stablecoin minting, burning, storage, and switch instruments.
Earlier in 2026, Visa and Stripe-owned Bridge introduced plans to provide stablecoin-backed playing cards in greater than 100 international locations by the tip of the 12 months. Their program permits prospects to spend stablecoin balances at greater than 175 million Visa service provider areas, with Lead Financial institution supporting on-chain settlement for the playing cards.
