In July 2026, encryption card consumption exceeded US$759 million, with USDC and USDT leading the wa

In July 2026, monthly consumption of cryptocurrency cards hit a record of US$759 million

In July 2026, monthly consumption through cryptocurrency payment cards reached US$759 million, the highest level since October 2023. This surge highlights the growing popularity of using blockchain-linked balances for daily payment transactions.

Consumption and transaction volume accelerates growth

Data shows that cryptocurrency card consumption has more than doubled from US$306 million in July 2025, a year-on-year increase of approximately 2.5 times. At the beginning of the tracking, the monthly total was less than US$1 million, and the category has expanded significantly in just three years.

Corresponding to the increase in consumption, the number of transactions has also increased significantly. A total of nearly 9 million cryptocurrency card transactions were processed in July, up from 5.2 million in the same period last year. The average transaction amount is approximately $86, indicating that users are more inclined to make frequent small purchases rather than just focusing on large transfers. Although the overall scale is still small compared to traditional card networks, the frequency of use of stablecoins in daily consumption is increasing.

Digital payments provider RedotPay led all tracking projects with $395.1 million in spending in July, and its annual transaction volume has also increased to current levels from $266.4 million a year ago. EtherFi contributed US$100.3 million and KAST contributed US$89.6 million, which together accounted for approximately 77% of the US$759 million tracked consumption in July.

There are differences in reporting methods for each project. Data for some projects comes from on-chain transactions, while others are based on centralized off-chain data. For example, RedotPay's data is self-reported, and some card structures use bulk settlement or account recharge methods, which may not completely match the actual merchant's consumption amount.

The network share used for settlement is also changing. Gnosis accounted for most of the recorded activity in early 2024, but its participation had dropped to about 2% by July 2026. During the same period, Optimism processed approximately 29% of cryptocurrency card payments, with Solana and Base each accounting for approximately 19%, indicating that usage has been dispersed across multiple blockchain platforms.

July transaction volume (July 2026 vs July 2025) and market share by project/network: RedotPay was US$395.1 million (US$266.4 million), accounting for 52%;EtherFi was US$100.3 million (no data), accounting for 13%;KAST was US$89.6 million (no data), accounting for 12%; other projects were US$174 million, accounting for 23%.

stablecoins dominate cryptocurrency card consumption

U.S. dollar-backed stablecoins play an increasingly prominent role in cryptocurrency card payments. The USDC issued by Circle accounted for approximately 58% of total spending in July, while the USDT issued by Tether accounted for 26%. In contrast, the euro-linked stablecoin EURe accounted for 88% of tracking card spending in early 2024, but its share had dropped sharply to about 2% by July 2026. This trend shows that digital dollars dominate this field.

Users usually spend in digital dollars, but through currency conversion during transactions, merchants end up receiving local currency. This setting allows consumers to tap into their cryptocurrency balances while also allowing merchants to avoid the direct risk of fluctuations in cryptocurrency prices. U.S. dollar-backed stablecoins such as USDC and USDT currently account for 84% of cryptocurrency card payments, a significant change from two years ago, when euro-linked assets dominated the market.

Visa, one of the world's largest payment networks, reported that the volume of card transactions associated with stablecoins reached US$5.2 billion in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 319%. The company currently supports more than 130 stablecoin-related projects covering more than 50 countries and plans to double this number by 2026. Through a partnership with Stripe's Bridge, Visa plans to expand its stablecoin card products to more than 100 countries by the end of the year to improve global access to blockchain-funded payments.

Despite the astonishing growth, stablecoin-linked cards still account for only a very small proportion of global payments. Visa's total payment processing volume in 2025 will be US$14.2 trillion, of which stablecoin cards account for only 0.04%. July consumption highlights the rapid adoption trend, but cryptocurrency-based card payments are still on a smaller scale across the financial ecosystem.