Cryptocurrency cards surged from experimental payment tools to everyday spending instruments in 2025.
Stablecoin-denominated deposits drove the explosive growth across multiple card providers.
Visa-backed crypto cards recorded spending increases from $14.6 million in January to $91.3 million by December, according to Dune Analytics data.
What Happened
Six Visa-partnered crypto card programs dominated tracked spending volumes throughout 2025.
EtherFi led all providers with $55.4 million in annual spending.
Cypher followed with $20.5 million, while GnosisPay, Avici Money, Exa App and Moonwell contributed smaller but growing volumes.
Research analyzing broader crypto card activity through October 2025 found stablecoins accounted for nearly 100% of deposited collateral.
USDT and USDC emerged as dominant funding sources across card programs.
Rain-based card infrastructure powered multiple programs including EtherFi, KAST and Avalanche cards, functioning as underlying payment rails rather than standalone products.
Monthly active users reached approximately 40,000 by late October, indicating sustained repeat usage rather than one-time experimentation.
Transaction patterns showed low-ticket everyday spending rather than large speculative purchases.
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Why It Matters
The spending patterns signal cryptocurrency cards function increasingly as international payment accounts rather than speculative instruments.
Multichain support expanded across Ethereum (ETH), Polygon, Base, Arbitrum (ARB) and Solana (SOL), with users optimizing for lower transaction costs.
Infrastructure consolidation emerged as a defining characteristic, with card-as-a-service providers like Rain capturing majority volume through shared infrastructure serving multiple programs.
However, the model faces structural challenges heading into 2026.
Most programs lack vertical ownership, creating single points of failure where upstream compliance incidents could trigger sudden restrictions.
On-chain transaction transparency raises privacy concerns as spending patterns become publicly analyzable.
The ecosystem remains firmly in an "onboarding-led" growth phase focused on user acquisition rather than profitability.
Card providers face pressure to balance expansion with interchange economics and operational complexity as competition intensifies.
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