Monthly crypto card volume has grown from roughly $100 million in early 2023 to approximately $1.5 billion by late 2025, reaching an industry-wide annualized run-rate of $18 billion as of January 2026, according to data from Artemis Analytics and CoinDesk. That growth represents a compound annual growth rate of 106%, per Artemis Analytics. The Block, measuring a narrower segment of the market, has reported $600 million in monthly volume for the same period; the gap reflects differing scope rather than conflicting data. The surge is reshaping how stablecoins are used at the point of sale, with Circle's USDC gaining measurable ground on Tether's USDT in markets including India and Argentina.

Crypto cards work by converting stablecoins or other digital assets to local fiat currency at the moment of purchase, using existing Visa or Mastercard infrastructure. The cardholder spends normally; the settlement happens on-chain. Visa controls more than 90% of on-chain crypto card volume, and Visa and Mastercard together support over 130 card programs globally. Visa's stablecoin-linked card settlements hit a $3.5 billion annualized run-rate in Q4 2025, a 460% year-over-year increase.

USDC Gaining in Specific Corridors

Globally, USDT remains the dominant stablecoin across trading pairs and peer-to-peer payments, particularly on the Tron network. But on card programs specifically, USDC is closing the gap. Artemis Analytics data shows USDC now accounts for 47.4% of stablecoin card volume in India and 46.6% in Argentina. Those figures approach near-parity in both countries.

The shift reflects a structural difference between the two assets. USDC, issued by Circle with a current supply of roughly $78 billion (up 220% since late 2023), carries a compliance-friendly profile that suits regulated card programs. Visa began settling transactions in USDC in 2023, and Circle's integration with Stripe has deepened its footprint in institutional payment flows. USDC's average transfer size of around $557 points to automated, high-frequency institutional use rather than retail speculation.

USDT's supply declined by approximately $3 billion in Q1 2026 while USDC added roughly $2 billion over the same period. USDC now captures an estimated 64% of combined adjusted transaction volume between the two stablecoins in 2026, according to Analytics Insight. Total stablecoin transaction volume across all assets topped $28 trillion, exceeding Visa and Mastercard combined, according to KuCoin data reported by Yahoo Finance and Cryptonews.

India and Africa: Different Stages, Similar Trajectory

India's USDC share in card spending is notable given the Reserve Bank of India's parallel rollout of the Digital Rupee (e₹). The RBI's initiative may be pushing private stablecoin users toward more regulated dollar-backed instruments, though a direct causal link has not been established. India received $338 billion in on-chain crypto inflows over the 12 months to June 2025, a 4,800% five-year growth rate, making it the largest crypto market in Asia-Pacific by inflows. For developers building on Visa's stablecoin rails or targeting Indian diaspora remittance corridors, users are showing growing familiarity with USDC specifically.

Africa is earlier in the cycle but moving fast. The continent's crypto market grew 52% year over year according to Ripple data published in April 2026, with stablecoin volumes in Sub-Saharan Africa up more than 180%. The functional driver is practical: sending money from Lagos to Nairobi through traditional channels costs 6 to 8% and takes three to five business days. Stablecoin transfers cover the same corridor for 1.5 to 2.5% in roughly 60 seconds. Africa has more than 800 million mobile money accounts, and card-linked stablecoin products are beginning to connect to that base. In March 2026, Circle and Sasai Fintech announced plans to explore USDC stablecoin applications across multiple African markets, according to PYMNTS. Eight African nations, including Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, and Mauritius, are advancing formal crypto regulatory frameworks this year, which is a prerequisite for card issuers that depend on licensed local partners.

Southeast Asia as the Leading Indicator

Southeast Asia shows what scale looks like once infrastructure is in place. Singapore-based StraitsX reported a 40-fold increase in transaction volume and an 83-fold increase in cards issued between Q4 2024 and Q4 2025. RedotPay, a Hong Kong-based crypto card company, processed $2.95 billion in card volume during 2025 alone, more than four times the combined volume of its next 13 competitors. Both figures are reported by CoinDesk (March 29, 2026). StraitsX CEO Tianwei Liu described the direction of travel: "Payments start to look more like internet data flows, continuous, low cost, and embedded directly into applications."

South Asia and Africa are, by most available indicators, roughly 12 to 18 months behind Southeast Asia on this infrastructure curve. The gap reflects the current pace of regulatory approvals, card program launches, and on-chain volume growth in each region rather than any structural barrier to adoption.

What Comes Next

Two issuers illustrate where the market is heading. Rain, which holds direct Visa Principal Membership rather than working through an intermediary bank, raised $250 million at a roughly $1.95 billion valuation in January 2026 and reported more than $3 billion in annualized volume after growing approximately 38 times in 2025. Reap, focused on corporate and business-to-business spend, is processing over $6 billion annualized. Both companies sit above a program-manager tier that includes issuers such as Baanx, Bridge/Stripe, and Gnosis Pay. Rain and Reap benefit from cutting out intermediary issuing banks, which gives them better economics per transaction and faster product iteration.

The broader stablecoin market hit $315 billion in total supply in Q1 2026, with stablecoins now representing 75% of total crypto trading volume, the highest share on record, according to KuCoin. As regulatory frameworks mature in India, across Africa, and in Southeast Asia, the gap between holding stablecoins and actually spending them is narrowing into something that looks, to the end user, like an ordinary card payment.