Crypto Card Spending Hits $18B Run Rate; Stablecoins Become Backend Infra
Crypto card volume hits $18B annualized, nearly catching P2P transfers as stablecoins quietly become global backend financial infrastructure.
The Silent flippening
Crypto card spending volume exploded to an annualized rate of $18 billion in late 2025. Data from Artemis Analytics reveals a 106% compound annual growth rate since 2023. This surge brings card-based crypto spending nearly level with traditional peer-to-peer (P2P) stablecoin transfers, which stagnated at $19 billion (+5%). The data signals a structural pivot. Stablecoins are transitioning from speculative assets to invisible settlement rails.
Retail Integration, Not Disruption
The growth is driven by utility, not novelty. Revolut reported its stablecoin payment volumes jumped 156% to approximately $10.5 billion in 2025. Crucially, 30-40% of this activity consisted of transactions between $100 and $500. Users are not buying Lambos. They are buying groceries.
This isn’t disruption. It’s integration. The fastest-growing consumer use case for crypto relies entirely on traditional card rails.
Visa Wins the Rails War
Visa has effectively captured the market. The network processes over 90% of on-chain card volume through early strategic partnerships. While the settlement asset is new, the infrastructure is legacy. This dominance is further evidenced by Rain, a corporate card issuer. Rain recently secured funding at a $1.95 billion valuation after multiplying its active card base 30x and payment volume 40x in 2025.
The Backend Reality
Bloomberg Intelligence now projects stablecoin payment flows could expand at an 80% CAGR. The target is tens of trillions by the decade’s end. But the user interface remains unchanged. The “crypto” element is disappearing into the backend, serving as a settlement layer for global finance rather than a consumer-facing product.
