NEW YORK–While it may be a blip when it comes to overall spending, crypto card spending more than tripled over the past year to $1.04 billion in July as consumers increasingly used dollar-backed stablecoins for routine purchases including groceries, restaurant meals, ride-hailing and food delivery, according to CoinDesk.
Dollar-backed stablecoins funded about 70% of more than 10 million transactions tracked by Paymentscan, CoinDesk reported, citing data highlighted by venture capital firm a16z.
USDC accounted for 50.8% of July spending volume and USDT represented another 20.3%. A year earlier, their shares were about 48% and 7%, respectively, the report explained.
CoinDesk said the average crypto card payment also increased, reaching about $86 in July compared with $59 a year earlier.
Signal Being Sent
The growth signals an expansion in how stablecoins are being used, according to the CoinDesk analysis. While consumers have increasingly used the digital assets to hold dollar-denominated value and transfer money across borders, crypto-linked cards are making it possible to spend those balances through conventional payment networks.
“The real measure of crypto’s progress is not simply how many people own digital assets, but how useful those assets become in everyday life,” Thomas Gregory, vice president of payments and fiat at Binance, told CoinDesk.
CoinDesk noted crypto cards generally allow consumers to spend stablecoins or other digital assets through existing card networks. Depending on the product, funds may be deposited with the card issuer or held in a self-custody wallet and converted at the time of purchase, with merchants receiving payment in local currency.
As a result, stablecoins are not necessarily replacing traditional card networks. Instead, they are increasingly serving as a funding source for cards operating over networks such as Visa and Mastercard.
Visa: 160+ Stablecoin-Lined Programs
Visa said in June it had more than 160 stablecoin-linked card programs operating or under development worldwide, according to CoinDesk.
The Paymentscan data showed spending was heavily concentrated among several providers. RedotPay generated $395.1 million in July volume, EtherFi accounted for $100.3 million and KAST had $89.6 million. Together, the three represented about 77% of tracked volume. CoinDesk noted Paymentscan’s RedotPay figures are self-reported rather than observed onchain.
RedotPay told CoinDesk its customer base had grown more than 33% during the previous six months to more than 8 million users.
Used in More Everyday Purchases
Evidence from individual markets also suggests crypto cards are increasingly being used for everyday purchases, CoinDesk reported.
CoinDesk noted:
- Oobit reported grocery stores represented 35% of its activity in Latin America. In Argentina, food accounted for 41% of transactions and USDT funded 72% of Oobit payments.
- Binance said use of its card in Brazil also increased, with the average number of users rising 53% between its launch quarter and the second quarter of 2026 and average transaction volume climbing 80%. Ride-hailing, food delivery, groceries, restaurants and online subscriptions were among the leading spending categories.
- Kraken reported similar behavior. Weekly payments using its Krak Card more than doubled over the past year to 8.3 per user, with retail and store purchases accounting for 59.3% of spending.
Not Uniform
The trend is not uniform across platforms. Coinbase told CoinDesk that about 16% of combined transaction volume on its credit and debit cards involved USDC. Coinbase customers held about $20 billion in USDC across the company’s products, suggesting considerably more stablecoin value continues to be held than spent through cards.
CoinDesk reported that adoption also appears to be growing faster in some lower-income markets. StraitsX said gross transaction value through its card infrastructure increased about 600% in lower-GDP markets between March 2025 and February 2026, compared with 150% in higher-GDP markets.
“What stands out most is how ordinary the spending has become,” StraitsX CEO Tianwei Liu told CoinDesk. “The underlying stablecoin balance is increasingly just another way to fund a familiar card experience.”
