Visa crypto card spending soars 525% in one year, stablecoins become the new favorite for real-world payments

Visa Crypto Card Net Expenditure Surged from $14.6 million in 2025 to $91.3 million, a 525% annual growth rate. Among them, EtherFi’s Visa credit card achieved a total annual spending of $55.4 million, dominating the market.

The global stablecoin market size has more than doubled over the past two years, growing from $125 billion to approximately $255 billion. This rapid growth is directly reflected in the payments sector: users can now make daily purchases using stablecoins like USDC, USDT, and others directly at any merchant worldwide accepting Visa.

Behind the Data: The Explosion of Crypto Payments

Latest data from Dune Analytics shows that crypto card spending issued in partnership with Visa increased from $14.6 million in January 2025 to $91.3 million by the end of December. This more than fivefold growth not only appears in the numbers but also signifies a qualitative shift in crypto payments from concept to practicality. Providers of these cards include crypto payment platforms GnosisPay and Cypher, as well as decentralized finance projects EtherFi, Avici Money, Exa App, and Moonwell. Notably, EtherFi’s Visa credit card contributed over 60% of the total annual spending, reaching $55.4 million.

Market expansion is no coincidence. Singapore, as a crypto-friendly financial hub, saw 26% of its residents holding digital assets in 2024, with more than half having tried to pay with cryptocurrencies.

Stablecoins: The Key Catalyst for Crypto Payment Adoption

Stablecoins are a core factor driving the adoption of crypto cards. USDT, USDC, and other dollar-pegged stablecoins greatly reduce the risk of price volatility during payments, transforming crypto cards from investment tools into practical payment instruments. This trend has been met with active responses from payment giants. In April 2025, Visa partnered with stablecoin orchestration platform Bridge to launch new card products. Through Bridge’s single API integration, developers can offer Visa cards linked to stablecoins for users in multiple countries.

The initial target markets focus on Latin America, covering Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and Chile. This strategic layout aims to meet the growing demand for stablecoins as a store of value and payment method in these regions.

Emerging Models: The Rise of Self-Custodied Crypto Banks

Among various crypto card projects, Solana-based Avici’s new bank demonstrates a unique self-custody model. Since its launch in October 2025, Avici’s Visa card spending has exceeded $7 million, a remarkable achievement for a new project.

Unlike many crypto cards, Avici uses a self-custody smart wallet, allowing users to hold assets without depositing them into centralized exchanges or traditional banks. Its smart contract wallet is linked to the Visa card, enabling users to pay anywhere accepting Visa after depositing crypto, while maintaining control over their funds.

Avici’s uniqueness also lies in its token distribution—0% of the initial token supply is held by the team, with 77.5% of the 12.9 million AVICI tokens directly distributed to the public, and 22.5% allocated for liquidity provision. This structure aims to eliminate early internal sell pressure and promote fairer distribution.

Global Expansion: Strategic Layout from Latin America to Asia

Visa’s crypto card projects with different partners reflect regional expansion strategies. In Latin America, stablecoin Visa cards supported by Bridge are already live; in Asia, DCS Card Centre’s DeCard micro-prepaid cards, launched in partnership with Visa, focus on Singapore and nearby markets.

Regulatory frameworks in different regions also shape product forms. Under Singapore’s Monetary Authority (MAS) regulation, DeCard conducts compliant exchanges through licensed digital payment token service providers, ensuring that conversions from crypto to fiat adhere to local regulations.

DeCard’s upgraded product, DeCard Luminaries, targets high-end users, offering competitive foreign exchange rates and up to 10% cashback (monthly cap of $200). This tiered product strategy indicates that the crypto card market is evolving from a single-function tool to a diversified service platform.

Real Challenges: Multiple Obstacles Facing Crypto Cards

Despite rapid growth, crypto cards still face many challenges. Taxation issues are among the most complex— in most jurisdictions, spending cryptocurrencies is a taxable event. This means that even if users buy a coffee with a crypto card, if the crypto has appreciated before the purchase, they may owe taxes on the gains.

Security is also a major concern. While self-custody solutions like Avici emphasize user control over funds, risks associated with smart contracts and private key management are fully transferred to users. For ordinary users unfamiliar with blockchain technology, this can be a barrier to adoption.

Centralized reliance also sparks controversy. Some argue that crypto cards are still controlled by traditional banks and payment processors, requiring KYC procedures and regulatory compliance, which conflicts with the decentralized, permissionless ethos of cryptocurrencies.

Future Trends: From Consumer Payments to Enterprise Applications

Currently, crypto card usage mainly focuses on daily consumer payments, but enterprise applications could be the next growth driver. Companies are exploring on-chain management of payments and collections, seamless conversion between crypto and fiat, on-chain treasury operations, and earning yields on idle balances. Several projects have already begun to target the enterprise market. Recently, Avici launched a corporate card feature, allowing companies to register and issue cards for their teams, marketing budgets, and other scenarios. This expansion demonstrates the potential for crypto cards to evolve from personal spending tools into infrastructure for enterprise finance.

In the long term, true crypto payments may bypass the “card” intermediary altogether. For example, Trip.com’s direct integration of stablecoin payments—allowing users to spend directly from their wallets with cryptocurrencies—may be a more authentic form aligned with the essence of crypto.

Market Correlation: Trends on the Gate Platform

As crypto card usage grows, the performance of related digital assets on trading platforms is also noteworthy. Take AVICI as an example: since its public on-chain token sale via MetaDAO in October 2025, its price has experienced significant fluctuations. According to Gate data, as of January 8, 2026, AVICI trading activity correlates with the adoption rate of crypto cards. It’s important to note that price volatility is influenced by multiple factors, including overall market sentiment, project development stages, and adoption changes.

It’s also worth noting that market valuations of crypto card-related projects are shifting from speculative hype to practical metrics. Data points such as user growth, card adoption rates, and on-chain activity are becoming key focus areas for investors, reflecting a transition from speculation to utility.

In Singapore, over half of crypto holders have already tried to pay with digital assets; in Latin America, stablecoin cards supported by Visa and Bridge are changing local spending habits. The global stablecoin market size has reached about $255 billion, with these digital dollars flowing through Visa’s network into every payment scenario—from grocery shopping to online subscriptions. Crypto cards may just be a transitional bridge connecting two financial worlds, but when over $9 million flows through this bridge each month, it’s no longer just a future financial experiment but a payment reality many are already experiencing today.