Dollar stablecoins have captured 84% of the crypto card market: euro stables have been pushed out.
The cryptocurrency payment card market is undergoing a tectonic shift. Dollar stablecoins — USDC and Tether (USDT) — now account for about 84% of all spending on such cards. Just two years ago, euro-denominated tokens dominated, but today the balance of power has radically changed.
The turning point came after the launch of new card programs and the restructuring of settlement chains. Over this period, dollar stablecoins have grown their share, while EURe and Gnosis Pay have rapidly lost ground.
Dollar spending share rises, euro collapses to 2%
Crypto payment cards allow users to pay with stablecoins and other digital assets anywhere that accepts cards from major payment networks. Funds are automatically converted into local currency at the time of the transaction, and the merchant sees a standard card operation.
At the start of 2024, the euro stablecoin EURe accounted for about 88% of turnover, with most of those transactions processed through Gnosis. Now its share has fallen to roughly 2%. The growth of dollar stablecoins has almost completely displaced spending through euro infrastructure.
USDC accounts for about 58% of card spending, while USDT accounts for roughly 26%. A year ago, their shares were about 48% and 7%, respectively. "Crypto card spending now occurs predominantly in digital dollars," notes the latest a16z crypto report.
Card spending volume exceeds $759 million per month
Monthly crypto card turnover reached $759 million in July — 2.5 times more than the $306 million result a year earlier. When tracking began in October 2023, the monthly volume did not exceed $1 million.
In July, users made nearly 9 million card purchases, compared to 5.2 million a year earlier. The average transaction value was about $86. Settlements also occur on other blockchains, and their share has grown since the launch of new programs.
Optimism (OP) accounts for about 29% of card transactions. Solana (SOL) and Base each hold roughly 19%, while Gnosis's share has declined to 2%.
Almost all tracked spending still goes through Visa. The largest program by volume, RedotPay, publishes its own data but does not confirm settlements on on-chain networks, so the exact totals remain unclear.
Crypto card spending is still tiny compared to traditional payment networks, which process trillions of dollars per month.
My take: This shift is not just a statistical anomaly but a signal of market maturity. Dollar stablecoins are becoming the standard for real-world payments, displacing niche euro solutions. The question is not whether they will displace fiat, but how quickly traditional networks will adapt to this new reality.