The crypto card payments market is expanding rapidly, prompting changes in the competitive landscape of the global payments industry.

Onchain-based crypto card payments recently reached a record $7.8 billion, blockchain media outlet Cryptopolitan reported on Tuesday. Visa accounted for about 90 percent of total transactions, leading the market’s expansion.

Total crypto card payments have risen about 230 percent since May 2025, based on PaymentScan data. Users can now spend stablecoins held in their wallets directly via card payments without separate bank transfer procedures, significantly improving access for consumers. Users can currently make real-time payments at regular stores using cards linked to crypto wallets.

Visa’s growth was more pronounced around the blockchain payment system Jupiter Global. Over the past two months, Visa’s Jupiter Global payment volume surged about 648 percent. This is interpreted as a sign that Visa is accelerating the expansion of stablecoin-based payment infrastructure.

Visa is also aggressively expanding its crypto card business through cooperation with Bridge, a stablecoin infrastructure company under Stripe. The two companies said two months ago they would expand their stablecoin-linked card program to more than 100 countries by the end of 2026. The card is currently operating in 18 Latin American markets, including Argentina, Mexico and Chile, and is set to expand to Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa.

The core of the card is a structure that directly links stablecoins in self-custody wallets such as MetaMask and Phantom to payments. Payments can be made at about 175,000,000 merchants in Visa’s global merchant network. At first, stablecoins were converted into fiat currency at the time of payment and paid out to merchants, but it is now evolving into an onchain-based direct stablecoin settlement structure through cooperation with Lead Bank.

The market is paying attention to the possibility that this trend could lead to changes in the international payments system beyond a simple expansion of crypto spending. In countries with high currency value volatility, stablecoins are being used for savings, remittances and as a substitute for dollars, and the use is rapidly spreading into card spending.

The traditional financial sector has also moved to defend its lead in cross-border payments. Project Agora, being promoted by the Bank for International Settlements and the Institute of International Finance, is testing a faster and cheaper cross-border payments structure using tokenised commercial bank deposits. Major central banks and about 40 global financial institutions, including the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Bank of Korea, participated in the project.

Some in the industry also see competition between central banks and private crypto payment networks entering full swing as dollar-based stablecoins begin to threaten the existing correspondent banking system. As major stablecoin operators such as Tether and Circle expand their influence in the cross-border payments market, Visa and the global financial sector are also accelerating efforts to build blockchain-based payment infrastructure.