Stablecoin adoption and cross-border demand drive 247% surge from year-ago levels
Payment volume processed on crypto cards reached a record $12.5 billion, climbing 140% year-to-date and 247% compared to October 2025, according to data from paymentscan.xyz and analysis by The Kobeissi Letter.
The surge reflects accelerating adoption of stablecoins as a payment rail and increased demand for cross-border transactions. “Crypto cards are the next phase of crypto adoption,” The Kobeissi Letter stated in its analysis of the milestone.
Fold Holdings’ Fold Bitcoin Credit Card, which runs on the Visa network and is powered by Stripe Issuing, has emerged as a significant driver of volume. The card accepts payments from 175 million merchants and offers a base cashback rate of 1.5% in bitcoin, with a maximum rate of 4% when behavior-based boosts and partner offers are applied. Cardholders earn an additional 0.5% cashback when paying bills in bitcoin.
Fold began issuing the Fold Bitcoin Credit Card to waitlist members earlier in 2026. The card’s structure allows users to accumulate bitcoin rewards on everyday spending without requiring active trading or market timing.
Jupiter Spend, an on-chain card provider, reported a 55% quarter-over-quarter increase in activated cards, signaling growing consumer adoption of crypto-denominated payment products.
Aven, another crypto card provider, unveiled its Bitcoin Visa Card at Bitcoin Conference 2026 in Las Vegas. The Aven card allows borrowers to access up to $1 million in credit against bitcoin collateral without selling their holdings. BitGo holds the collateral for Aven card borrowers. The card carries a starting APR of 7.99% and offers a maximum repayment term of 10 years. Coastal Community Bank issues the Aven Bitcoin Visa Card.
QR-code payments represent a secondary growth area in crypto card adoption alongside traditional point-of-sale transactions.
