Visa said on 1 October that payments volume across its 160-plus stablecoin-linked card programs has grown nearly 200% year over year, and that about 17% of stablecoin-linked card volume in fiscal 2026 so far came from business and commercial programs. Visa did not publish the dollar volumes behind either figure. In May, a Consensys executive said stablecoin cards still made up less than 1% of global card spend.
Stablecoin cards are growing fast from a small base. For a fintech product lead or a treasurer, the question to ask is how they work, because “stablecoin card” covers two separate layers: the spend a cardholder sees and the settlement a program runs behind it. Most of the business value sits in the settlement.
The numbers
| Figure | Source and date | Read with care |
| 160+ stablecoin-linked card programs; payments volume up nearly 200% year over year | Visa, 1 Oct 2026 | Covers consumer, business and commercial programs. No dollar base disclosed. |
| About 17% of stablecoin-linked card volume from business and commercial programs, FY26 year to date | Visa, 1 Oct 2026 | A share of one card category, using Visa’s internal program classifications, so it says little about corporate payments overall. |
| Active cards up 30x and annualized volume up 38x over the prior year; more than $3B annualized; 200+ partners | Rain, 9 Jan 2026 | Rain’s own figures, covering 2025. There is no newer set that we could find. |
| Retail stablecoin card spend up about 105% to 106% year over year | John Timoney, Rain, at Consensus Miami, reported by CoinDesk, 8 May 2026 | Retail card spend, a different measure from Visa’s. |
| Stablecoin cards under 1% of global card spend | Ray Hernandez, Consensys, same panel | A panel estimate, not a measured statistic. |
| Stablecoin payments of $401B to $527B in the first eight months of 2026; business-to-business the largest lane; service fees $56B, payroll $43B, supplier payments $28B; 43% of B2B volume cross-border among flows with geographic attribution | Allium, September 2026 | A whole-market estimate from on-chain data that covers far more than cards. |
Visa’s figures describe its own network: a growth rate from an unpublished base, and a business share of one card category. Allium’s figures describe the whole stablecoin payments market.
How a stablecoin card actually works
Layer one: spend. A cardholder holds USDC or USDT, either with a custodian or in a self-custody wallet. At authorization, the issuer or its processor converts the stablecoin to fiat, and the merchant is paid in fiat through the normal Visa or Mastercard flow. The merchant sees an ordinary card payment with no crypto exposure. The MetaMask Card shows the self-custody version: users keep full custody until the point of purchase. Our guide to letting customers pay in crypto with a card that settles in fiat covers the merchant’s side of that transaction.
Layer two: settlement. A card program also has to settle with the network, and Rain calls that process capital-intensive. Rain says it supports daily settlement with card networks, including weekends and holidays, which cuts the collateral requirement significantly. CoinDesk reported the claim as more than 40% less trapped capital in some cases. Rain and Mastercard are also exploring onchain settlement for select program flows.
The clearest live example sits on the bank side. On 22 September, SoFi and Mastercard announced that stablecoin settlement is live across SoFi Bank’s debit and credit card program, expected to process more than $25 billion annualized in SoFiUSD. The cards stay ordinary debit and credit cards, and the change is the rail the bank uses to settle with the network. Visa lists stablecoin settlement and Visa Direct pre-funding among its own stablecoin initiatives.
Who is building it
| Date | Company or event | Role | Source |
| 9 Jan 2026 | Rain raises $250M Series C at $1.95B, led by ICONIQ | Issuer-processor and Visa Principal Member; partners named include Western Union, Nuvei and KAST | Rain |
| 26 Feb 2026 | MetaMask Card, US launch | Self-custody wallet card on Mastercard, powered by Monavate (formerly Baanx), issued by Cross River Bank | MetaMask |
| 11 Mar 2026 | Mastercard Crypto Partner Program | Collaboration forum for crypto and payments firms, 85+ at launch and 100+ listed now, including Circle, PayPal, Ripple and Rain | Mastercard |
| 4 May 2026 | Rain becomes a Mastercard Principal Member | Can issue credit and prepaid cards on Mastercard | Rain |
| 3 Aug 2026 | Mastercard completes its BVNK acquisition, announced 17 March for up to $1.8B | Network acquires stablecoin infrastructure for payouts, settlement and treasury flows | Mastercard |
| 4 Aug 2026 | Western Union Stablecard, built with Rain | USDPT-backed Visa secured credit card, live in 37 markets, 60+ targeted by year-end | Western Union |
| 22 Sep 2026 | SoFi Bank moves its card program to SoFiUSD settlement on Mastercard | Bank-issued stablecoin settling a debit and credit card program expected to exceed $25B annualized | SoFi |
| 1 Oct 2026 | Visa data release | 160+ stablecoin-linked card programs | Visa |
The table is ordered by date and implies no ranking. Mastercard is buying stablecoin infrastructure and enabling stablecoin settlement for a bank’s full card program, and Rain now holds principal membership with both networks.
Mastercard’s completion release says BVNK’s technology will help scale stablecoin use cases from cross-border B2B payments and payouts to settlement and treasury flows. Western Union’s Stablecard is a consumer product, and it shows who is now distributing stablecoin cards.
Why businesses are the growth segment
Business and commercial programs account for about 17% of Visa’s stablecoin-linked card volume, and Visa’s Mark Nelsen put the demand at “supplier payments and treasury operations to cross-border commerce”. Allium’s market data points in the same direction: business-to-business is the largest payment lane, and 43% of that volume crosses borders among flows with geographic attribution.
There are practical use cases. A team can fund contractor and travel spend from a stablecoin treasury without off-ramping first, and a marketplace paying out in USDC can let recipients spend straight away.
Latin America comes up most often in the sources. Timoney said stablecoin cards could soon account for double-digit percentages of all cards in some Latin American markets. That is a forecast from a Rain executive. Western Union’s rollout targets markets where the local currency is unstable and demand for stablecoins is already visible.
What a treasurer should check before issuing or using a card program:
- Issuer licence and network membership. Who is the Principal Member, who issues the card, and under which authorisation?
- Where the stablecoin sits before conversion. Custodian, self-custody or program wallet, and who can move it. Our custodial vs non-custodial guide covers the options.
- Conversion fees and spread. Compare the amount debited with the spot rate at the moment of purchase. Our guide to the real cost of crypto payments explains why headline fees mislead.
- Reporting and reconciliation. Each spend needs to match a stablecoin movement and a fiat settlement in your books.
- Tax treatment of each spend. Our corporate treasury framework shows where this belongs in a written policy.
The constraints
Conversion carries a cost. The spread between stablecoin and fiat at the point of purchase can differ between programs.
Rules vary by country. In the EU, MiCA’s e-money token rules apply to the stablecoin itself, and ESMA confirmed that the transitional period ended on 1 July 2026. We cover this as market context in our guide to stablecoin rules under MiCA. Elsewhere, the picture differs again; the UAE restricts which stablecoins merchants may accept, as the FAQ below sets out.
In many jurisdictions, spending a stablecoin can count as a taxable disposal, so each spend may need recording. A card program also depends on its issuer-processor’s solvency and on the stablecoin’s issuer.
The card is the last inch
Before a card can spend a stablecoin, someone has to source it and hold it until conversion. For a business, that upstream work decides what the card can do: how the dollars arrive and how the fiat side is settled.
As of 13 October 2026, the newest public figures are Visa’s from 1 October and Rain’s from January, but both will date quickly.
Cards spend the stablecoin; Xchange360 sources, exchanges and settles it. Talk to our desk for more information.
This article is general information, not legal or tax advice.