Crypto card payments have surged to $1.5B monthly, but Tiger Research argues the sector remains a niche financial tool rather than true infrastructure due to weak account ownership

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$1.5B/month in card spend is impressive, but it is still mostly CEX balance sheet UX wrapped in Visa/Mastercard rails, not users carrying a portable account across merchants. Open USD already has 140+ partners signed up, including Visa, Stripe, Mastercard, Coinbase and Solana, so the margin fight is moving toward stablecoin issuance, wallet identity and settlement control. Card programs that cannot own the account graph become rewards funnels, not payment infrastructure, on Base and Solana.

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Crypto card payments have surged to $1.5B monthly, but Tiger Research argues the sector remains a niche financial tool rather than true infrastructure due to weak account ownership

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Crypto card payments have surged to $1.5B monthly, but Tiger Research argues the sector remains a niche financial tool rather than true infrastructure due to weak account ownership

Explore the topic

More on Crypto Payment Card

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Analysis of 514,915 crypto card wallets suggests float—not cashback—is the industry's biggest moat, with user balances revealing where trust truly resides

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Crypto neobanks are facing a consolidation wave as stablecoin accounts and card issuance become commoditized, leaving distribution, licensing and payment rails as the industry's only durable moat

Crypto card competition heats up in 2026 as Tria, EtherFi and KAST battle traditional neobanks with stablecoin payments and onchain banking features

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Analysis of 514,915 crypto card wallets suggests float—not cashback—is the industry's biggest moat, with user balances revealing where trust truly resides

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