Stablecoin Card Spending Hits Record $1.17 Billion in September

Stablecoin card spending reached a record $1.17 billion in September, according to data from Paymentscan. This figure marks a new high for the sector, even as the total number of transactions saw a slight decline from August.

The data shows that while payment frequency dipped to 11.0 million transactions from 11.07 million in August, the average transaction size rose to approximately $107. This suggests that users are moving larger amounts of value through these crypto-linked payment rails.

Cuy Sheffield, head of Visa’s crypto unit, described the current state of stablecoin-linked cards as being in hyper growth mode. Issuers are increasingly integrating dollar-denominated tokens directly into existing card networks to bypass the need for merchants to accept crypto at the point of sale.

Base has emerged as the leading blockchain for this activity, accounting for $216.8 million of the $788.9 million in on-chain spending tracked by Paymentscan for September. Optimism followed with $127 million, while Solana recorded $109.3 million.

At the program level, RedotPay remains the market leader, processing $401.9 million in the latest 30-day period. EtherFi and KAST followed with $127.4 million and $113.1 million in volume, respectively. Growth across these programs was varied, with Wirex One seeing a 40.1% increase in 30-day volume, while RedotPay grew by 3%.

Despite the record volume, active addresses tracked by Paymentscan slipped to 283,761 from 287,634. However, this metric remains incomplete as some programs do not report active-address figures.

Tiger Research noted that the next phase for these providers involves moving beyond headline payment volume. The challenge for issuers is to transition from simple payment rails to capturing recurring expenses and salary deposits, effectively building primary financial relationships with users.