Crypto tried to make payments work since Bitcoin launched.
Most say it failed.
But did it?
Look at EtherFi Card data: most transactions are small payments of $1 to $50 USD.
Sure, it's not the P2P crypto payments we wanted to have: Visa or Mastercard is the intermediary. We need KYC.
But onchain it looks the same.
Every coffee you buy settles on ETH L2s, Solana etc. with gas paid.
Whether it came from a crypto wallet or a card swipe does not matter for the chain.
And you still get the upside of crypto:
• Self custody with many more options in 2025
• DeFi integration through EtherFi Cash
• No need to cash out stablecoins to a legacy bank
Yes, Visa and Mastercard take a big cut. But it might be a transitory stage.
New non custodial crypto cards are building their own payment rails. Payy is one of them.
First, crypto cards use the reach of Visa and Mastercard.
Then they attract users with stronger rewards: cashbacks, collateral backed credit, and yield that banks cannot touch.
If they grow beyond the crypto niche, these networks can start eating into the legacy payment stack.
That is the hard part.
But the base is here.
People are already spending using blockchain space and bringing stablecoin adoption.
A real start for crypto payments

These payments are a lifeline for crypto wallets:
Argent (now Ready )has been struggling to find PMF but since they added card payments they stats are up only.

EtherFi card directly increases demand for borrowing without the leverage looping that DeFi relies so much.
This increases DeFi resilience from bull/bear cycles.

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