Stablecoin Card Payments Economics at Scale: Who Gets Paid and By How Much?
- Harvey
- 6 hours ago
- 5 min read
Crypto cards have quietly become the biggest “bridge” between on-chain value and real-world commerce. Data analytics firm Artemis estimates monthly crypto card volume grew from roughly $100m in early 2023 to over $1.5b by late 2025, implying an 1,500% increase and an $18b+ annualized run rate.
That trajectory is likely to continue, pulling more stablecoin-enabled settlement volume along with it. But even as “stablecoin-native settlement” expands, it is unlikely to remove fiat from the equation. Instead, it shifts where and when conversion occurs. The more consequential question is elsewhere: whose share of the card payment economics is mostly under pressure and why.
In this week’s research, I break down the economics of a stablecoin card payment transaction, including:
Where the stablecoin leg actually sits in the crypto card payment flow
What stablecoin-native settlement really means, and why it does not eliminate fiat
Where the economics sit across authorization, clearing, and settlement, and who captures what
Which revenue pools are most at risk, and for whom
Let’s dive in.
1) Most “stablecoin card payments” are fiat settlement in disguise
At a high level, crypto card transactions fall into two paths:
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