No more crypto wallets that we keep for speculation. Stablecoins are now part of everyday life: USDC and USDT account for 84% of crypto card spending, while the EURe collapses to 2%. An express changeover that is disturbing.
In brief
- Stablecoins now capture 84% of crypto card spending, compared to only 2% for EURe, which dominated at 88% two years ago.
- Monthly volume jumped to $759 million in July 2026 (x2.5 in a year), driven by a sharp increase in the number of users and transactions.
- Faced with the trillions processed each month by Visa and Mastercard, the crypto card weighs almost nothing, and its figures are based in part on self-declared data by RedotPay.
Stablecoins go from 15% to 84% of crypto card payments in 2 years
Until two years ago, crypto payment cards lived on euro drip. EURe, the stablecoin backed by the European currency and routed mainly on the Gnosis blockchain, accounted for 88% of volumes at the start of 2024. Today, this figure has dropped to 2%! In its place, USDC (58%) and USDT (26%) now share 84% of spending.
The movement is not limited to a simple transfer of market share. Indeed, the overall monthly volume jumped to 759 million dollars in July 2026, compared to 306 million a year earlier, an increase by 2.5. The number of transactions follows the same curve. Nearly 9 million purchases in July, compared to 5.2 million a year earlier, for an average basket stable around 86 dollars.
It is therefore not a speculative bubble which artificially inflates the figures, but a widening adoption. The settlement rails are also moving:
- Optimism accounts for 29% of volumes;
- Solana and Base approximately 19% each;
- Gnosis, once the driving force behind EUre, now weighs only 2%. The crypto card looks less and less like a niche gadget.
USDT, the stablecoin that benefits the most from the digital dollar rush
If USDC remains in the lead with 58% of spending, it is the progression of USDT that is of concern. Tether’s stablecoin grew from 7% to 26% of volumes in just one year, the most spectacular growth in the sector. A figure to be compared to a persistent paradox. Tether still communicates about its reserves with less transparency than Circle, the issuer of USDC, which is regularly audited and more aligned with Western regulatory frameworks. This progression of the USDT, however, reflects a well-identified geographical reality.
RedotPay, the largest crypto card program by volume, primarily targets users in emerging markets where access to a stable dollar is worth more than impeccable regulatory status. Problem is, RedotPay self-declares its figures and does not systematically settle on-chain in a verifiable manner, which introduces a gray area into statistics that are already difficult to cross. In other words, the least stablecoin ” own “ on paper is also the one that seduces the quickest.
Behind the growth, a still marginal crypto card
$759 million per month is impressive on paper. But rescaled, the figure melts like snow in the sun. Visa and Mastercard alone process several trillion dollars each month around the world. The crypto card, with its 759 million, represents only an infinitesimal fraction of this total… roughly the equivalent of the monthly turnover of a large regional distribution brand, not of a global payment system. This observation does not detract from growth dynamics.
Starting from less than a million dollars per month in October 2023, the crypto card has grown more than 700 times in just under three years. This is a dazzling progression in relative value. But it starts from such a marginal base that even three-digit growth is not enough to push it out of its box. “niche”. The real issue is therefore not whether stablecoins have dethroned the euro… that is a fact. The real question is whether this infrastructure, still fragile and partially opaque, can one day absorb a sufficient volume to weigh against the payment giants.
The digital dollar won the battle of the crypto cards without even fighting the euro. A victory which is partly based on local stablecoins, whose adoption on the same blockchains as USDT strengthens the greenback. Does crypto really free itself from traditional currencies, or does it only reproduce their hierarchy?
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