Crypto payment card spending reached $759 million in July 2026, the highest monthly total tracked since October 2023. The figure marks a sharp rise in the use of blockchain-linked balances for ordinary consumer transactions.

Rapid Year-over-Year Expansion

Spending more than doubled from $306 million recorded in July 2025, representing roughly a 2.5-fold increase. When systematic tracking of the category began, monthly volume stood below $1 million. The jump over three years points to broader adoption of crypto cards for routine payments.

Transaction counts also rose substantially. Nearly 9 million purchases were processed in July, compared with 5.2 million in the same month of the prior year. The average transaction value hovered around $86, indicating that cardholders primarily used the products for frequent, smaller everyday spends rather than large transfers.

Leading Providers and Market Concentration

RedotPay accounted for the largest share of activity, generating $395.1 million in July volume, up from $266.4 million a year earlier. EtherFi contributed $100.3 million, while KAST added $89.6 million. Together the three programs represented approximately 77 percent of the total tracked spending for the month.

Reporting practices vary across programs. Some figures derive from on-chain data, while others incorporate self-reported or off-chain information that may include batched settlements or account top-ups.

Stablecoins Drive the Majority of Activity

Dollar-backed stablecoins dominated the spending mix. Circle’s USDC represented about 58 percent of the July total, and Tether’s USDT accounted for a further 26 percent. Combined, the two tokens covered roughly 84 percent of tracked crypto card payments.

This composition marks a clear shift from earlier patterns. The euro-pegged stablecoin EURe once held an 88 percent share in early 2024 but had fallen to around 2 percent by July 2026. Consumers typically spend digital dollars while merchants receive settlement in local fiat currency after conversion at the point of sale, limiting direct exposure to crypto price swings.

Shifts in Underlying Networks

Settlement activity has dispersed across multiple blockchains. Optimism handled roughly 29 percent of volume in July 2026. Solana and Base each accounted for about 19 percent. Gnosis, which once dominated early recorded activity, had declined to approximately 2 percent.

Broader Industry Context

Visa reported $5.2 billion in stablecoin-linked card volume for the full year 2025. The network supports more than 130 such programs across more than 50 countries and has signaled plans to expand further. In partnership with Stripe’s Bridge unit, Visa aims to introduce crypto card services in over 100 countries by the end of 2026.

Even with the recent growth, crypto card activity remains a small fraction of overall payments. Visa’s total processing volume reached $14.2 trillion in 2025, placing stablecoin-linked cards at just 0.04 percent of that total.