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Points of Focus
- RedotPay expects global stablecoin card spending to reach $50 billion annually by 2028.
- Monthly stablecoin card activity crossed $1 billion for the first time in July.
- McKinsey and Artemis estimated stablecoin-linked card spending at $4.5 billion in 2025, up 673% year-on-year.
Stablecoin card spending could reach $50 billion a year by 2028, according to a new RedotPay forecast, after monthly activity topped $1 billion for the first time in July.
The growth is landing inside a familiar payment stack. A user can fund a card with USDC (USDC) or Tether’s USDt (USDT), conversion happens at checkout, and the merchant receives local currency through existing card infrastructure. The stablecoin sits upstream as the source of funds.
What the $50-billion figure captures
McKinsey and Artemis estimated stablecoin-linked card spending at $4.5 billion in 2025, up 673% from a year earlier. Their broader analysis put actual stablecoin payment activity at about $390 billion, far below the trillions of dollars often produced by raw onchain transaction counts.
Trading, internal transfers, and automated activity all add blockchain volume without representing purchases of goods or services. Card-linked activity can be easier to isolate because providers often use dedicated contracts and addresses. The visibility, however, depends on how each card program settles.
Paymentscan adds another wrinkle. Its methodology follows each card according to how the issuer settles onchain. For RedotPay, the public dashboard currently tracks top-ups rather than individual purchases. The figures capture money entering the card system, without providing a transaction-by-transaction record of what users ultimately spend at merchants.
That leaves a fast-growing consumer market whose measurement depends partly on how each issuer moves funds between onchain balances and card infrastructure.
Stablecoins are entering everyday spending through cards
RedotPay expects some of the strongest growth in Latin America and Africa, where stablecoin access, cross-border payment friction, fiat conversion, and regulation shape demand.
Crypto-funded cards let users hold dollar-linked assets and spend through merchants that already accept conventional cards. Retailers can receive familiar card payments without integrating wallets or crypto checkout systems.
For shoppers, the experience can look much like an ordinary debit card purchase. Behind the checkout, the funding source has shifted onchain.
The structure keeps Visa and Mastercard deeply involved in a growing stablecoin payments market. Card networks retain their merchant acceptance and acquiring relationships. Stablecoin issuers and card providers compete around balances, conversion, and settlement.
Other crypto payment systems are pushing more of the transaction itself onchain. Coinbase’s x402 targets direct stablecoin payments between software, APIs, and AI agents. Cards solve a different distribution problem: They connect onchain balances to a merchant network that already exists.
If annual stablecoin card activity approaches $50 billion by 2028, the milestone will show how deeply digital dollars have entered ordinary payment infrastructure. Their presence may become increasingly obvious in the funding layer and almost invisible at the checkout.
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