Crypto card payments are rapidly emerging as one of the most important channels for bringing digital assets into everyday commerce, according to a new stablecoin report from Artemis. The firm argues that crypto cards, once viewed as a niche product for a limited set of users, are now becoming a practical bridge between crypto-native balances and the global payments system.
The most striking takeaway from the report is the change in scale. Artemis said monthly crypto card settlement volume climbed from $100 million in early 2023 to $1.5 billion in 2025. That puts the category close to the volume processed by standard peer-to-peer stablecoin payments, which stood at $1.6 billion over the same period. In other words, card-linked crypto spending is no longer a side story in digital payments; it is approaching parity with one of the core uses of stablecoins.
From Niche Tool to Mainstream Payment Bridge
Crypto cards typically function as debit or credit cards linked to stablecoin balances or other digital assets. For users, they offer a familiar payment experience. For merchants, they preserve the simplicity of traditional card acceptance because the transaction can still settle through established fiat-based card networks. Artemis sees this structure as a key reason crypto cards are scaling faster than many native onchain payment alternatives in retail settings.
According to the report, crypto card payments expanded at a 106% compound annual growth rate, reaching more than $18 billion on an annualized basis. By comparison, stablecoin P2P payments reached around $19 billion annually but grew only 5% over the same timeframe. The contrast suggests that while stablecoins remain central to crypto payments, the form factor through which they are spent is changing.
Rather than replacing card networks outright, stablecoin usage may be finding faster traction by plugging into existing rails. That is a meaningful shift because it highlights where demand and infrastructure are meeting most efficiently today.
Why Cards Are Scaling Faster
Artemis attributes the momentum behind crypto cards to a practical advantage: they can leverage payment infrastructure that is already globally accepted. Traditional card networks, merchant acquiring systems, and fiat settlement processes are deeply embedded in commerce. Crypto cards sit on top of those systems, making it possible for consumers to spend digital assets without requiring merchants to overhaul checkout systems or treasury workflows.
By contrast, native stablecoin payments still face multiple barriers to broader merchant adoption. Artemis points to several roadblocks, including a lack of infrastructure, challenges around merchant integration, accounting complexity, and the rollout of new compliance requirements. These issues do not eliminate the long-term potential of stablecoin payments, but they do slow deployment in real-world retail environments.
That difference matters. A merchant can accept card payments today with minimal change to existing operations, while direct stablecoin acceptance often raises new questions about wallet support, settlement choices, bookkeeping, regulation, and point-of-sale integration. In a market where ease of implementation often determines adoption speed, crypto cards have a clear structural edge.
Stablecoin Adoption Is Growing, but Through Familiar Rails
Artemis does not suggest that native stablecoin transfers are losing relevance. On the contrary, the report says both P2P and B2B stablecoin payments should continue to grow. Stablecoins remain useful for moving value quickly, especially across borders or between digital platforms. But the report argues that direct merchant acceptance fully replacing card networks in the near term remains unlikely.
That conclusion is grounded in relative growth rates. If direct stablecoin acceptance were on track to displace card-based payment infrastructure quickly, native payment volumes would likely be accelerating faster. Instead, crypto cards are growing more rapidly, which indicates that users and businesses are currently favoring models that combine digital asset funding with conventional merchant acceptance.
In effect, the report frames crypto cards as a transitional infrastructure layer for the next stage of stablecoin adoption. They allow users to hold and manage digital assets while spending in familiar commercial environments, without forcing every merchant to become a crypto-native payments operator.
What the Numbers Suggest About the Market
The jump from $100 million in monthly settled volume to $1.5 billion in roughly two years is notable not only for its size, but also for what it signals about consumer behavior. It suggests that demand for spending crypto balances in everyday contexts is increasing, and that users may prefer tools that abstract away operational friction. A card linked to stablecoin holdings is easier to understand and easier to use than many direct onchain payment flows.
The near match between crypto card volume and stablecoin P2P volume is also significant. P2P transfers have long been one of the clearest and most established stablecoin use cases, especially for remittances, exchange transfers, and person-to-person settlement. For crypto cards to reach a similar level of volume indicates that merchant-facing and retail-linked usage is becoming a larger share of the stablecoin economy.
This does not necessarily mean cards will dominate every use case. Native stablecoin payments may remain especially attractive in corridors or business workflows where speed, programmability, and direct settlement matter more than retail acceptance. But in everyday consumer commerce, the existing card model still appears to offer the easiest path to scale.
The Broader Implication
Artemis ultimately concludes that crypto cards will continue to expand alongside broader stablecoin adoption. Their role is not merely to provide convenience for current users, but to translate digital asset balances into practical purchasing power across existing merchant networks. In that sense, crypto cards are not an alternative to stablecoin growth; they may be one of the main vehicles through which stablecoins gain broader real-world utility.
The report’s central message is straightforward: the next phase of stablecoin adoption may not be defined by the immediate replacement of legacy payment rails, but by the integration of stablecoins into those rails. If that trend continues, crypto cards could become one of the most important pieces of infrastructure connecting onchain finance with mainstream commerce.