Crypto Card Market Explodes 15x as Stablecoin Spending Soars 106% Annually: Report

Group 1 - The crypto payments landscape has seen a significant transformation, with crypto card volumes increasing from approximately $100 million monthly in early 2023 to over $1.5 billion by late 2025, reflecting a 106% compound annual growth rate [1] - Crypto cards are becoming the primary bridge between digital assets and everyday commerce, with annualized volumes surpassing $18 billion, while traditional peer-to-peer transfers only grew by 5% to $19 billion during the same period [2] - Visa has established itself as the leading player in the crypto card infrastructure, capturing over 90% of on-chain card volume through strategic partnerships with emerging program managers and full-stack issuers [2] Group 2 - The strategy of Visa, which involves engaging infrastructure providers like Rain and Reap, has proven to be more scalable compared to Mastercard's direct exchange partnerships [3] - Full-stack issuers are reshaping card economics by integrating BIN sponsorship, lender-of-record status, and direct Visa network settlement into single platforms, thus eliminating traditional card issuance dependencies [4] - Visa's stablecoin-linked card spending reached a $3.5 billion annualized run rate in Q4 fiscal 2025, marking a 460% year-over-year growth, although it still accounts for about 19% of total crypto card settlement volume [5] Group 3 - Centralized exchanges are utilizing cards as user-acquisition tools, with platforms like Gemini incurring ongoing losses from credit card programs to enhance platform engagement [6] - DeFi protocols such as Ether.fi are offering higher cashback through token rewards, providing approximately 4.08% returns while boosting protocol total value locked (TVL) through collateralized borrowing features [6] Group 4 - Geographic opportunities for crypto card adoption are particularly pronounced in regions like India and Argentina, where USDC is nearing parity with USDT in market share [7] - India experienced $338 billion in crypto inflows over the 12 months ending June 2025, but stringent tax policies have driven most activity offshore, indicating a significant latent demand for compliant crypto products hindered by regulatory challenges [8]