Crypto cards have the potential to bridge the longstanding gap between digital assets and established retail infrastructure—and finally bring widescale crypto payments to checkout. According to Paymentscan, the usage of these products is rapidly accelerating, hitting an all-time monthly record of roughly $1.04 billion in July.
The analytics firm noted that the figure was up 16% from June and nearly 200% year-over-year. This was largely driven by stablecoins, led by USDC and USDT, which funded over two-thirds of the more than 10 million tracked transactions.
Notably, many of these purchases were for everyday expenses like groceries, gas, and ride-sharing services. Taken with the purchase volume spike, signs point to a larger role of stablecoins in commerce.
The Largest Remaining Barrier
There is significant consumer interest in expanding stablecoins’ footprint. According to a survey by MNEE Pay and YouGov, 84% of stablecoin holders would prefer to shop with merchants that accept stablecoins, especially in e-commerce use cases.
However, users frequently struggle to find merchants who accept the tokens. Survey respondents stated they often opt to hold stablecoins as a savings vehicle when they would prefer to spend them, and many have resorted to converting some of their holdings back into dollars.
This lack of merchant support represents one of the last remaining barriers to digital assets adoption, and it is a pain point that crypto cards could potentially solve. These products allow users to spend stablecoins and other assets through existing payment networks without requiring merchants to accept cryptocurrencies directly.
Capitalizing on Cross-Border Payments
Crypto cards could also gain traction due to the increased usage of stablecoins in global payments, payouts, and remittances. The digital assets are a marked upgrade over the current cross-border payment model, as they offer instant transactions with low fees and full visibility.
Stablecoins also reduce currency conversions—at least within the cross-border transaction itself—which reduces complexity and costs. However, after the transaction is settled, many recipients still find themselves with stablecoins that they must either convert to fiat currencies or hold indefinitely. By contrast, a crypto card allows these users to spend their stablecoins at a merchant and minimize foreign exchange fees.
While crypto cards are not likely to replace conventional credit and debit cards soon, there are clear use cases for these products—especially when paired with stablecoins—which will likely keep their usage on the rise.