Retail spending via stablecoin-backed cards grew approximately 105% to 106% year-over-year, according to John Timoney, head of strategic partnerships at payments infrastructure platform Rain, speaking at a Consensus Miami 2026 panel. The cards — physical or virtual — let users spend Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC) directly from a digital wallet for everyday purchases, with merchants typically receiving fiat.
Latin America Emerges as Hotbed for Stablecoin Card Adoption
Timoney said Latin America has become one of the clearest adoption markets. Stablecoin cards are now used across custodial and non-custodial wallets, exchanges and products that abstract away the stablecoin experience. Spending patterns are becoming indistinguishable from regular card activity, covering large global merchants and everyday purchases. “There’s nothing too remarkable about that,” he said. “And I think that is what is remarkable.” Rain recently became a Mastercard Principal Member, enabling it to issue credit and prepaid cards on the Mastercard network. The two companies are also exploring on-chain settlement for certain card flows using regulated stablecoins.
On-Chain Settlement Unlocks Capital Efficiency
Traditional card programs often need to pre-fund network obligations or borrow when banking rails are closed. With stablecoin settlement, programs can settle on weekends and holidays, reducing trapped capital by more than 40% in some cases, according to Timoney. That makes rewards and card economics more flexible, freeing idle capital for other uses. Despite growth, stablecoin cards still account for less than 1% of global card spend, noted Ray Hernandez, senior vice president of business development at Consensys, who joined the same panel.
Mastercard Deepens Stablecoin Push With BVNK Acquisition
Christian Rau, Mastercard’s senior vice president of digital assets and blockchain, said mainstream adoption hinges on making the technology invisible to consumers. “Other than the people in this room, nobody says ‘oh, I just did an onchain payment’,” Rau said. “The normal benchmark these days is you have a card sitting on your iPhone or on an Android. You tap it, the money is gone.” Earlier this year, Binance, PayPal and Ripple joined Mastercard’s broader blockchain payments initiative. Mastercard then agreed to acquire stablecoin infrastructure firm BVNK for up to $1.8 billion. MetaMask is also expanding its self-custody card strategy: the MetaMask Card, built with Mastercard and Baanx, lets users spend from a self-custodial wallet while assets are converted to fiat at the point of purchase.