Since the inception of the digital asset industry, the number of global users and the scale of holdings have continued to grow. Yet, one persistent challenge remains unsolved: while users often have ample digital assets in their wallets, these funds are difficult to spend directly on everyday purchases. Whether it’s shopping at the supermarket, subscribing online, making cross-border payments, or paying at brick-and-mortar stores, the pathway for digital assets to enter the real economy has always been obstructed.
This situation is now changing. In 2025, the annual transaction volume of stablecoins reached approximately $33 trillion, surpassing the combined $25.5 trillion processed by Visa and Mastercard. By April 2026, the total supply of stablecoins exceeded $321 billion. Monthly spending with crypto payment cards reached between $500 million and $600 million at the start of 2026, with an annualized run rate over $5 billion. Stablecoins are evolving from being solely on-chain transaction media to becoming real-world payment tools.
In this transformation, PayFi is emerging as the core engine connecting on-chain assets with real-world spending. Gate Card, Gate’s digital asset Visa card, is taking on a critical question: can crypto assets truly become a practical tool for everyday payments?
The PayFi Era: Deep Integration of Payments and Finance
The core logic of PayFi (Payment Finance) isn’t just about enabling crypto payments. Instead, it leverages the "time value of money" to reconstruct the relationship between payments, settlement, and financial services. From 2025 to 2026, PayFi is evolving from a crypto payment tool to a next-generation payment and financial engine. Stablecoins are now being used at scale for high-frequency and cross-border payments, offering settlement efficiency and cost structures that significantly outperform traditional systems.
Stablecoins, RWAs, and AI are jointly shaping the foundation of PayFi. Stablecoins are becoming a universal settlement layer across chains and systems. RWAs (Real World Assets) bring real economy assets on-chain, enabling 24/7 settlement and liquidity. AI is driving payment systems toward dynamic risk control and automated decision-making.
Stablecoin use cases have quickly expanded from being internal settlement tools within exchanges to globally accepted payment media. On-chain transaction volumes for USDT and USDC continue to climb, and more merchants are starting to accept stablecoin payments directly or indirectly. As of May 2026, the global stablecoin market cap reached $321.6 billion, up about 12% since the start of the year. USDT supply rose to $189 billion, capturing more than 58% market share. Stablecoins are steadily becoming high-frequency global payment tools, with their payment utility significantly strengthened.
Cross-border payments are currently the most mature PayFi application. Settlement cycles have been reduced from several days to just minutes, and overall costs have dropped by an order of magnitude compared to traditional systems. At the same time, crypto payments are moving from niche applications to mainstream consumer infrastructure.
The Stablecoin Spending Gap: Easy to Hold, Hard to Use
However, a structural contradiction persists: while the scale of crypto asset management continues to grow, the channels for large-scale, everyday spending remain underdeveloped.
If users want to pay with USDT, they typically face a complex process: transferring USDT from their wallet to a trading account, selling it for fiat, withdrawing to a bank account, and finally spending via a traditional bank card. This chain of steps can take hours or even days, incurring multiple fees along the way. Although crypto asset management is expanding, the proportion of assets actually used for daily spending remains very low.
Price volatility further complicates spending. According to Gate market data, as of July 8, 2026, Bitcoin (BTC) was priced at $63,648.1, down 10.73% over the past 30 days and 33.74% over the past year. Ethereum (ETH) was at $1,780.32, down 20.92% over 30 days and 31.14% over the year. Users worry that assets spent today might appreciate significantly in the future, which suppresses their willingness to spend.
Stablecoins, on the other hand, offer a different scenario. The USDT price remains stable, making it naturally suited as a payment medium for everyday spending. However, there is a lack of direct spending infrastructure. This gap has created a clear market demand for crypto payment cards.
Visa is rolling out more than 130 "stablecoin + bank card" integration projects in over 50 countries. By April 2026, its stablecoin settlement business had reached an annualized transaction volume of $7 billion. Industry data clearly reflects the real scale of this demand—crypto payments are moving from niche use cases to mainstream consumer infrastructure.
Gate Card: A Payment Tool Connecting On-Chain Assets with Global Spending
Gate Card is a digital asset payment card launched by Gate, directly linked to a Gate Pay payment account. Users don’t need to convert USDT or other digital assets to fiat in advance; the system handles necessary asset conversion and settlement at the moment of transaction. This means users’ on-chain assets remain in their original form, only being accessed when they make a purchase.
Gate Card maps users’ digital asset balances directly to spending limits accepted by the Visa network, allowing on-chain assets to be spent in the real world without intermediaries. Previously, a typical purchase might require several steps: transferring from a wallet to an exchange, selling for fiat, withdrawing to a bank account, and then paying with a traditional card. Gate Card compresses this entire process into a single step—just swipe the card or link a digital wallet to pay.
The card’s spending limit is based on the available asset balance in the user’s Gate Pay account. Users can increase their available balance by purchasing digital assets through Gate’s buy crypto feature or by transferring assets from other wallets into their Gate account.
Currently, Gate Card supports four digital assets for direct payment: USDT, BTC, ETH, and GT. If users hold any of these assets in their Gate Pay account, they can choose any one of them as the funding source when making a purchase. USDT, as a stablecoin, is naturally suited for everyday spending. Bitcoin and Ethereum, the two largest cryptocurrencies by market cap, can be held long-term but also spent directly when needed. GT, Gate’s native ecosystem token, offers users even more payment options.
Two Card Types and a Transparent Fee Structure
Gate Card offers both virtual and physical card options, allowing users to choose the type that best fits their needs.
The virtual card is the preferred entry point for most users. After completing Level 2 identity verification, users can typically activate a virtual card within 3 to 5 minutes. Virtual cards are ideal for online shopping and can also be linked to Apple Pay and Google Pay for in-store payments. Physical cards cover a wider range of scenarios, including chip payments, contactless payments, and ATM withdrawals. Each user can apply for one virtual card and one physical card.
In terms of fees, both Gate Card’s virtual and physical cards have no issuance fee, no monthly fee, and no inactivity fee. The crypto-to-fiat conversion fee is 0.90% for transactions of $2 or more, and $0.05 for transactions under $2. For non-USD transactions, the foreign exchange fee is 1%. Overall, the cost structure is transparent and predictable. Spending limits are dynamically adjusted based on card level, providing flexible capacity configurations for different usage scenarios.
Points Cashback: Turning Spending into Asset Accumulation
On July 2, 2026, Gate officially launched its Gate Card points system. This system centers on three core features: cashback on spending, points redemption, and tier progression. Users can continuously accumulate points through spending, redeem points for digital assets, and unlock higher-tier benefits as their spending grows.
Gate Card’s cashback system has six tiers, from T0 to T5, with cashback rates increasing from 1% up to 8%. Each tier has different point multipliers, monthly points caps, and monthly cashback limits. The specific parameters for each tier are as follows:
- T0: For VIP 0 to VIP 4 users, no minimum monthly spending required, 1% cashback, 500 points monthly cap, $5 monthly cashback cap.
- T1: For VIP 5 to VIP 7 users, $500 monthly spending threshold, 1% cashback, 5,000 points monthly cap, $50 monthly cashback cap.
- T2: For VIP 8 users, $3,000 monthly spending threshold, 2% cashback, 10,000 points monthly cap, $100 monthly cashback cap.
- T3: For VIP 9 users, $6,000 monthly spending threshold, 3% cashback, 15,000 points monthly cap, $150 monthly cashback cap.
- T4: For VIP 10 to VIP 12 users, $10,000 monthly spending threshold, 5% cashback, 25,000 points monthly cap, $250 monthly cashback cap.
- T5: For VIP 13 to VIP 14 users, $15,000 monthly spending threshold, 8% cashback, 40,000 points monthly cap, $400 monthly cashback cap, and a single transaction cashback cap of $150.
The points multiplier determines how many points are earned per $1 spent—a 1x multiplier means 1 point per $1. For example, at T5, each $1 spent earns 8 points. With a redemption rate of 100 points for 1 USDT, this equates to an 8% cashback rate.
Gate Card’s points redemption mechanism stands out with two major features: a fixed exchange rate and perpetual validity. Points can be redeemed at a fixed rate of 100 points to 1 USDT, with a minimum redemption threshold of 50 points. Users can redeem points for either USDT or GT. Points never expire, which is a core advantage of this system, allowing users to accumulate points indefinitely without worrying about expiration. Redeemed digital assets are credited to the user’s designated account, such as their payment or spot account.
The key value of this mechanism is that it transforms spending into on-chain asset accumulation. Spending is no longer a one-way outflow—it creates a closed loop of "spend—cashback—reinvest."
The Change Gate Card Is Driving
From an industry perspective, Gate Card is more than just a new payment feature. It is helping drive digital assets into the real-world consumer ecosystem. Previously, crypto assets were largely confined to trading platforms and wallets. Now, crypto payment cards are enabling digital assets to enter mainstream payment networks.
Gate Card, leveraging the Visa network, is accepted by over 150 million merchants in more than 200 countries and regions. The product supports online and in-store purchases, ATM withdrawals, and can be linked to Apple Pay and Google Pay. This means users can spend digital assets in the vast majority of everyday scenarios worldwide.
The core design of Gate Card is to integrate digital asset accounts with existing payment systems. This integration means that digital assets are evolving from "trading assets" to "spending assets." As payment infrastructure improves, the boundaries of digital asset use in the real world continue to expand.
Monthly crypto payment card transaction volume grew from about $100 million in January 2023 to over $1.5 billion by the end of 2025. Crypto card payments are growing at an annualized rate of 106%. Crypto payments are moving from the edge to the mainstream of consumer infrastructure. As a key product in this trend, Gate Card is providing a crucial endpoint for stablecoin payments.
Conclusion
Stablecoin payments are reshaping the structure of consumer spending. From $33 trillion in annual transaction volume to a $321 billion total supply, from $500–600 million in monthly card spending to an annualized growth trajectory exceeding $5 billion—the data makes it clear that stablecoins are no longer just on-chain settlement tools. They are becoming real-world payment media.
Gate Card plays a connecting role in this process. It links on-chain assets directly to the global Visa merchant network, eliminating the intermediaries that once stood between digital assets and real-world spending. The six-tier points cashback system turns spending back into asset accumulation, making every purchase a starting point for value to flow back.
From instant virtual card activation to global coverage with the physical card, from a 1% base cashback to a maximum of 8%, Gate Card is providing digital asset holders with a complete pathway from holding to spending. When stablecoin payments no longer require specialized crypto knowledge or remain confined to on-chain ecosystems, they shed the "asset" label and become truly liquid payment tools. Gate Card is accelerating this transformation.
