Stablecoin payment cards reached record levels across key metrics in August, with spending volume hitting $1.076 billion, transactions reaching approximately 10.67 million, and active addresses growing to over 283,000 from 261,000 in July. The average transaction size worked out to $100.80.
RedotPay dominated the sector, processing around $390.1 million, or approximately 36% of total volume, while accounting for over 6.34 million transactions or 54% of all tracked activity. RedotPay's average transaction of $61.50 fell below the sector average, suggesting a higher proportion of routine spending relative to larger purchases. EtherFi and KAST ranked second and third in monthly volume.
Emerging Markets Drive Growth
Growth in stablecoin card spending has concentrated in lower-income regions. StraitsX, a Singapore-based payments firm sponsoring Visa card programs for crypto companies, reported 600% growth in gross transaction value across lower-GDP regions between early 2025 and 2026. Binance noted that average users of its Brazil card increased 53% from launch through Q2 2026, with average volume climbing 80%. Primary use cases included ride-hailing, food delivery, groceries, restaurants, and online subscriptions.
Kraken reported that weekly payments via its Krak Card more than doubled over the past year to 8.3 per user, with retail and store purchases representing 59.3% of spending.
Transaction Costs Enable Smaller Purchases
Reduced transaction fees have made lower-value purchases economically viable. Mastercard enabled stablecoin settlement on June 3 for USDC, Paxos-issued tokens, RLUSD, and SoFiUSD across eight blockchain networks. Visa now supports more than 160 stablecoin card programs in operation or development. Providers including Rain, Reap, and Stripe's Bridge have reduced overhead costs that previously made small transactions impractical to settle on-chain.
Concentration and Scale Considerations
The sector faces concentration risk, with three programs accounting for 55.6% of total volume. RedotPay's figures are self-reported rather than independently verified on-chain. The company faces a roughly $472.8 million claim in Hong Kong from Binance affiliates over alleged user diversion, and its planned $1 billion US listing is unlikely before 2027.
August's $1.076 billion spending annualizes to approximately $12.9 billion, representing about 0.06% of the $20 trillion-plus traditional card market.
Spending Growth Diverges From Stablecoin Supply
Stablecoin payment card volume reached record levels while the broader stablecoin supply contracted 3.6% from its May peak to approximately $304 billion. Historically, on-chain payment activity moved with stablecoin supply size, but this relationship appears to be shifting. The simultaneous increase in volume, transactions, and users alongside declining float suggests users are funding cards specifically for spending rather than parking speculative capital.
