coindesk.com
Crypto cards, payment cards that let users spend stablecoins and other crypto at traditional merchants, have quietly become one of the fastest-growing segments in digital payments, with volume now approaching the scale of peer-to-peer stablecoin transfers, according to new research from Artemis.
Monthly crypto card volume rose from roughly $100 million in early 2023 to more than $1.5 billion by late 2025, a 106% compound annual growth rate, the report said. The market now exceeds $18 billion on an annualized basis, nearly matching peer-to-peer stablecoin transfers at $19 billion, which grew just 5% over the same period.
Despite growing interest in direct stablecoin merchant acceptance, Artemis said cards remain the dominant bridge for stablecoin spending because they require no new merchant integrations.
Stablecoin-native settlement is rising, but still nascent: Visa’s stablecoin-linked card spend reached a $3.5 billion annualized run rate in the fourth quarter of 2025, the report said, representing about 19% of total crypto card volume.
“Across nearly all markets, USDT dominates stablecoin volume,” said the report authors. “However, two countries stand out as true global outliers: India (47.4% USDC) and Argentina (46.6% USDC), the only markets where USDC usage approaches parity with USDT.” The report also noted that India has become the largest crypto market in Asia-Pacific by inflows, with $338 billion USD value in the 12 months ending June 2025, representing 4,800% growth over five years.
Artemis said the crypto card ecosystem largely runs on the same rails as traditional Visa and Mastercard payment networks, issuers and program managers. The report said Visa is capturing more than 90% of on-chain card volume through early partnerships with crypto-native infrastructure providers.