Stablecoin card spending hits a record $1.17bn in September on fewer payments

Victoria Shinder01 October 2026, 07:162 min read

Spending on stablecoin-linked payment cards reached about $1.17 billion in September, the highest monthly figure in Paymentscan's data and already above August's total, CryptoSlate reports. Visa's head of crypto, Cuy Sheffield, has described the segment as being in "hyper growth mode", as issuers connect dollar tokens to existing card networks instead of waiting for merchants to accept crypto.

The growth came without more payments. Paymentscan recorded 11.0 million transactions in September, slightly fewer than 11.07 million in August, which puts the implied average purchase at about $107. Active addresses also slipped, to 283,761 from 287,634, though that figure is incomplete: Paymentscan counts addresses, not people, and RedotPay, the largest programme it tracks, does not report active addresses.

On-chain, Paymentscan tracked $788.9 million of September card spending across networks. Base led with $216.8 million, or 27.5%, followed by Optimism with $127 million and Solana with $109.3 million. Stellar processed $69.3 million, Polygon $50.9 million, Ethereum $49.5 million and Plasma $38.3 million, with $127.8 million spread across 11 other chains. The broader total is higher because some programmes report off-chain clearing or settlement data.

Among card programmes, RedotPay led with $401.9 million of spending over the latest 30 days, about $4.9 billion annualised. EtherFi followed with $127.4 million and KAST with $113.1 million, then Karta and Wirex One with $48.7 million and $46.9 million. Growth was uneven: RedotPay's 30-day volume rose 3%, while Wirex One's rose 40.1%.

CryptoSlate cites Tiger Research's view that the harder question is whether card issuers can turn spending into a primary banking relationship. Salary deposits and recurring bills remain largely outside their reach.

Why it matters

Riding existing card rails lets stablecoins skip the merchant-acceptance problem that held crypto payments back. A billion dollars a month is still small next to global card volumes, and fewer, larger payments suggest heavier use by existing customers rather than a wave of new ones.