Are People Actually Using Crypto Credit Cards?

Or are they just hype from crypto companies?

TL;DR

We’re in an in-between era: not full TradFi, not full DeFi. Crypto credit cards are what that transition looks like in your wallet.

Yes, people are actually using them enough to show real behavior, not just gimmicks, but they’re still tiny compared to the traditional card universe. For now, they’re mostly bridge products and growth funnels: exchanges use them to acquire and lock in users, card networks use them to learn crypto rails, and everyone quietly experiments with how far you can pull crypto into day-to-day spending before regulators flinch.

The money is real, but the economics are early. Think: loss leaders and loyalty infrastructure, not standalone profit machines.

We’re Living in the In-Between

We’re not in a world where everyone pays in stablecoins from a self-custodial wallet.

We’re also not in a world where crypto lives purely on exchanges as a speculative side quest.

We’re in the middle.

And nothing captures that better than crypto credit cards:

• Old rails (Visa / Mastercard)
• New assets (BTC, ETH, stablecoins, exchange balances)
• Wrapped in a product that looks exactly like the piece of plastic you already know how to use

The question I keep coming back to is simple:

Nice branding. Nice metal cards.
But is this real usage or just an expensive acquisition stunt?

To answer that, you have to be clear about what we’re even talking about.

What Counts as a “Crypto Credit Card”?

“Crypto card” gets used for everything from prepaid gift cards to actual revolving credit. So let’s separate the mess:

• Crypto debit / prepaid cards: You load them with crypto or fiat, they convert to fiat at swipe, and run on Visa/Mastercard. (Think early Bitcoin cards, or some Binance/Crypto.com products in their simplest form)
• Crypto rewards credit cards (Gemini Credit Card): You’re borrowing fiat like any other credit card, but your rewards come in BTC, ETH, or other tokens. Gemini’s card offers up to 3% back in one of 50+ cryptocurrencies and is integrated with Mastercard
• Crypto rewards credit cards (Coinbase One Card): Standard credit line, but up to 4% back in bitcoin, with rewards scaled by the assets you hold on Coinbase
• Hybrid “TradFi → crypto” bridges: Partnerships where a traditional card lets you funnel cash-back or points into crypto (for example, deals where Amex or Chase-style points or fiat are converted into BTC or USDC via Coinbase)

Under the hood, almost all of these run on traditional card networks. You’re not swiping a blockchain. You’re swiping a Visa that quietly talks to an exchange.

And that’s the point: these cards are less pure DeFi and more TradFi with a crypto skin and settlement layer.

So… Are People Actually Using These?

Short answer: yes, but it’s niche.
Longer answer: yes, and the behavior is interesting even if the scale is small.

Let’s look at a few concrete examples.

Crypto.com has quietly become the “normal person uses this for groceries” crypto card story.

In its H1 2025 “State of Crypto Commerce & Payments” report, Crypto.com highlights:

• Accepted in 200+ countries via Visa
• 16% year-over-year increase in card spending per user in 2024
• Strong growth in: fashion (+5% YoY in physical retail), luxury fashion (+30% YoY), electronics (+36% YoY)

They also released a dedicated Crypto Card Consumer Spending Insights 2024 report breaking down categories, which basically shows people aren’t just using the card once to screenshot, they’re using it for day-to-day stuff.

That’s real behavior, even if we’re not at Visa-scale volume.

Gemini: A Small but Serious Credit Business

Gemini’s earnings are even more explicit.

In its Q3 2025 shareholder letter and earnings commentary:

• Credit card revenue: $8.5M in the quarter, up $3.7M QoQ
• New card sign-ups: 64,000 in Q3 vs 17,000 in Q2
• Receivable balances: $150.6M, up 61% QoQ
• Total card spend: $350M+ in the quarter, with over 100,000 open accounts

One analysis notes that 55% of new U.S. traders came in through the credit card funnel.

That’s not “everyone you know is using a crypto card.” But it is very clearly “this is a meaningful product line with real swipe volume.”

Coinbase One Card: BTC Rewards as a Hook

Coinbase’s new Coinbase One Card is even more straightforward about its angle:

• Up to 4% back in bitcoin on every purchase
• Rewards tiered based on the assets you hold on Coinbase

They haven’t broken out card-only revenue yet, but the positioning is obvious: keep your assets on Coinbase, spend normally, let us drip BTC into your balance.

So yes, people are using these cards.
No, they are not yet anywhere close to traditional credit cards in volume.
But they are past the point of “marketing gimmick with no real data.”

Are Issuers Actually Making Money, or Is This Just a Fancy Funnel?

This is where it gets interesting.

Gemini: Great Engagement, Ugly P&L (for Now)

Gemini’s top line looks good, but the bottom line tells you how aggressive they’re being.

• Q3 2025 net revenue: ≈$50.6M, more than doubled YoY
• Net loss: ≈$159.5M, largely due to marketing and operating costs tied to growth, including the credit card business
• Card revenue: $8.5M in the quarter, on $350M+ spend

So the card is clearly driving user acquisition and engagement, clearly adding revenue, but embedded in a company that is still burning a lot of cash to scale.

That’s textbook loss-leader / growth engine behavior, not a tidy profit center.

Crypto.com: Card as a Core Identity Product

Crypto.com doesn’t break out card profits separately, but their research arm talks about card performance constantly:

• 16% YoY increase in spending per card user in 2024
• Broad category spread of usage

Combine that with the way Crypto.com markets itself with the card at the center and app and exchange around it, and it’s pretty obvious the card is a sticky front door into their ecosystem, not just a marginal revenue line.

Are they making fat margins on each swipe after rewards and interchange splits?

Probably not. But they’re building a user base that treats Crypto.com as a daily-spend layer, not just a trading app.

Coinbase: Strategic Adjacency

Coinbase’s financials show big headlines around trading, stablecoin revenue, and subscription/services growth, but the card itself is just one tile in that mosaic.

Given the Coinbase One subscription requirement, the “hold more, earn more” rewards design, it’s pretty safe to say the card is primarily designed to lock users into Coinbase One, and keep balances inside the Coinbase ecosystem.

In other words: loyalty infrastructure, not a standalone business.

Crypto Credit Cards as the Bridge Between TradFi and DeFi

We’re not in pure DeFi. We’re not stuck in pure TradFi. We’re in the middle, and crypto credit cards are what that middle looks like when it hits your wallet.

Most people won’t start their DeFi journey by booting up a self-custody wallet and bridging from L1 to an L2. They’ll start with something familiar: a piece of plastic, a mobile app, and rewards they understand.

For exchanges, every swipe is a merchant category, a location, a time, and a pattern. That data is gold: better risk scoring, tighter fraud detection, targeted offers, and eventually, the ability to build credit and on-chain products informed by actual spending behavior.

These cards still run on Visa, Mastercard, and banks, but the value layer sits in BTC, ETH, stablecoins, or your exchange balance. You tap at Starbucks like you always have. The balance sheet underneath quietly shifts toward crypto.

Right now, crypto credit cards look like this:

• Users:
  “Cool, I get BTC or stablecoin rewards on stuff I buy anyway.”
• Exchanges:
  “We get stickier users, transaction data, and a new revenue line even if it’s subsidized.”
• Card networks & banks:
  “We get to learn crypto behavior without blowing up our risk models.”

In a few years, a few different futures are plausible:

1. Cards stay the main bridge.
   Crypto rewards and balances remain layered on top of traditional card rails; stablecoins are mostly a behind-the-scenes settlement tool.
2. Cards fade into the background.
   Wallet-native payments, account-to-account transfers, and stablecoin rails take over, and crypto cards become just one of many interfaces.
3. Politics fragments the map.
   Some jurisdictions love crypto rewards and open integration.
   Others clamp down on using credit to buy or spend crypto, and push CBDCs or tightly-controlled bank products instead.

Conclusion

So, are people actually using crypto credit cards?

Yes.

Not at Visa-scale, not as the default way the average person pays for anything, but enough that you can say this is a real, growing behavior pattern, not just a marketing meme.

Right now, crypto credit cards are bridge tech: a way to keep living in a fiat world while your balance sheet slowly tilts toward crypto.

They probably won’t be the final form of crypto in everyday spending. Wallet-native payments, direct stablecoin rails, and on-chain identity will eventually make today’s cards look quaint.

But if you want to see the transition layer between TradFi and DeFi in the wild, don’t stare at a DEX.

Look at the plastic in people’s wallets, and then look at where the rewards go. That’s where the story is.

Thank you for reading.

APL

Footnotes

I hold positions in various digital assets and I personally use a Gemini credit card. Nothing here is financial, legal, or tax advice. It’s a lens on how crypto credit cards fit into the broader transition between TradFi and DeFi, not a recommendation to swipe, borrow, or invest in any specific product.

Sources: Yahoo Finance, Coinbase, Crypto.com, Gemini, The Block, Phemex, Coinbase, Gemini, The Business Research Company, InsightAce Analytic, Coin Paper

Are People Actually Using Crypto Credit Cards? was originally published in Coinmonks on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.