As Crypto Spending Surges, Credit Unions Face New Payments Question

NEW YORK--Cryptocurrency’s path from investment asset to everyday money may run through one of the most familiar tools in consumers’ wallets: the payment card.

A July report from PYMNTS Intelligence and Paymentology found strong interest in spending cryptocurrencies and stablecoins, including 71% of stablecoin holders who said they would use a linked debit card to spend their digital assets. Such cards can convert digital assets at the point of sale and route transactions over existing card networks, allowing merchants to accept the payments without changing their checkout systems.

Consumers also appear willing to turn to financial providers they already know to gain access to digital currencies. According to PYMNTS Intelligence, 77% of consumers said they would open a crypto or stablecoin wallet through an existing banking or fintech app. The finding suggests banks and fintechs could expand digital asset adoption by integrating wallets and payments into existing mobile services rather than requiring consumers to use separate crypto platforms.

The market is already showing signs of accelerating. PYMNTS Intelligence reported that monthly crypto card spending increased roughly 15-fold from early 2023 through late 2025, reaching an annualized rate of about $18 billion. The report cited digital-asset card platform Rain, which reached more than $3 billion in annualized spending after gaining direct Visa network membership, as evidence that traditional card infrastructure can support digital-asset payments at commercial scale.