Stablecoin card spending is rising. Here’s where the money goes

Stablecoin cards let customers spend digital dollars through familiar checkout terminals. Behind the growing volumes are issuers, custody providers, conversion services and settlement arrangements that determine the cost and what happens when a purchase goes wrong. Summary Paymentscan’s November 3 dashboard showed approximately $1.37 billion in tracked October card volume, including some self-reported data. Its KAST series recorded $121 million through 31 on-chain transactions during October. Visa reported more than 160 live stablecoin-linked card programmes in its September update. Marqeta’s October 16 Coinbase agreement included custody, conversion and settlement services. Visa and Lloyds settled $750,000 during a seven-day stablecoin pilot announced on September 30. Tracked stablecoin card volume has reached approximately $1.37 billion for October, as payment companies connect digital-dollar balances to existing card networks. Paymentscan’s dashboard showed the monthly figure on November 3, alongside approximately 12.94 million tracked transactions and 363,321 active addresses. Its coverage combines on-chain observations with some issuer-supplied off-chain data, which users can ...