Stablecoins Enter Daily AI Agency Commerce: Crypto Payment Card Monthly Spending Exceeds $750 Million

Author: Kurumi, Crypto City

Stablecoins are gradually moving from on-chain transfers and asset storage tools into everyday payment scenarios for consumers. According to Paymentscan data, the spending on crypto payment cards reached approximately $759 million in July, growing over three times compared to a year ago, with transaction numbers exceeding 10 million that month.

Among them, USD stablecoins have become the primary source of payment, with $USDC accounting for about 50.8% of July's spending, while $USDT accounted for 20.3%, together exceeding 70%. Compared to a year ago, the proportions of $USDC and $USDT were approximately 48% and 7%, respectively, indicating that the dominance of USD stablecoins in the crypto card market continues to expand.

The types of spending are also gradually extending from cashing out crypto assets to everyday expenses. Data from the Brazilian market shows that active users of Oobit conduct about 20 transactions per month, spending around $400, with grocery stores accounting for about 35% of regional transaction activity; in Argentina, 72% of Oobit payments use $USDT, with food-related spending accounting for about 41% of transaction volume. The number of users of Binance's crypto card in Brazil continues to increase, with ride-hailing, delivery, groceries, restaurants, and online subscriptions becoming major usage scenarios.

The daily payment of stablecoins is expanding rapidly, still largely relying on existing credit and debit card networks to complete transactions. Crypto cards typically convert stablecoins or other digital assets into local fiat currency at the point of sale, allowing merchants to receive payments through existing payment networks, thus utilizing the original payment infrastructure.

In June, Visa stated that there are currently over 160 stablecoin-linked card programs operating or in development worldwide. StraitsX, which collaborates with Visa to assist crypto companies in issuing payment cards, has seen transaction volumes grow approximately 40 times from Q4 2024 to Q4 2025.

The growth rate in emerging markets is particularly remarkable. StraitsX data indicates that from March 2025 to February 2026, the total transaction value of crypto cards in low GDP markets is expected to grow by about 600%, while high GDP markets are projected to increase by about 150%, with food and retail becoming the primary categories of consumption.

The market remains highly concentrated. Paymentscan statistics show that RedotPay's transaction volume in July was about $395 million, EtherFi around $100 million, and KAST approximately $89.6 million, together accounting for about 77% of tracked transaction volume. Some data comes from self-reported figures by businesses, and the overall market size still requires observation with more payment platform data.

Another payment market for stablecoins is forming among AI Agents. AI Agents can autonomously perform tasks such as searching for data, calling APIs, utilizing computing power, and purchasing digital services, often involving a large number of very small, high-frequency machine-to-machine payments.

The x402 protocol launched by Coinbase is a representative example. This protocol utilizes the "402 Payment Required" standard on the web, allowing AI Agents to make direct payments upon receiving service quotes, with verification completed to obtain data or services. The entire process can be autonomously completed by software, eliminating the need to establish traditional accounts or manually input credit card information.

Coinbase reports that x402 has processed over 165 million payments, totaling approximately $50 million.

Lincoln Murr, Coinbase's AI product manager, estimates that about 99% of these transactions use $USDC. Based on currently available public data, the average transaction is only about $0.3, with most uses concentrated on APIs, data, AI inference, computing resources, and online tools.

Currently, the scale of x402 still has a huge gap compared to traditional payment networks. In July of this year, x402 processed about $24 million in 30 days, roughly equivalent to Visa's transaction volume in one minute, but this type of machine-to-machine payment also allows stablecoins to find new markets that traditional credit cards find difficult to handle.

The payment needs of AI Agents are attracting both crypto and traditional financial players to lay out their strategies simultaneously. Stablecoins, with their characteristics of 24/7 operation, global transfer, and low-value payments, are particularly suitable for API calls and data purchases that involve only a few cents per transaction. Traditional card payments usually involve acquiring costs of about 2% to 4%, and with fixed processing fees, it is challenging to establish a reasonable business model for transactions under $1.

• Circle is testing $USDC Nanopayments, consolidating multiple small payments for on-chain settlement;
• Cloudflare has launched Wallets and cloudflare.pay, allowing users to set budgets, approve merchants, and set spending limits for AI Agents;
• MoonPay's PayBox further connects credit cards and crypto wallets, enabling AI Agents to use either x402 or Visa networks for payments based on different scenarios.

Traditional payment giants are also beginning to establish their own Agent payment frameworks:

• Mastercard has launched Agent Pay for Machines, allowing users to pre-set the products, limits, and transaction scopes that Agents can purchase;
• Visa is testing AI Agents using existing credit and debit cards to complete shopping and travel transactions with financial institutions.

Currently, the two payment models have developed different application scenarios. Stablecoins are more suitable for high-frequency small transactions involving APIs, data, computing power, and AI inference; credit card networks have existing foundations in large purchases, refunds, dispute resolution, and credit limits.

From humans using crypto cards to buy groceries, hail rides, and subscribe to services, to AI Agents autonomously purchasing digital resources using $USDC, the payment scope of stablecoins is further extending into everyday consumption and machine commerce.

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