Digital Assets Move From Investment to Everyday Payments

Digital assets have moved beyond their origins as investment vehicles. Cryptocurrencies and stablecoins first gained attention as new asset classes, but now consumers, businesses and financial institutions (FIs) are asking a different question: Can these assets actually be used in everyday commerce? The next phase of digital-asset adoption will be decided not by ownership but by utility: specifically, whether these assets can be used as easily as traditional forms of money.

This shift is particularly evident in the growing interest surrounding stablecoins. Unlike traditional cryptocurrencies, which are often associated with price volatility, stablecoins are designed to maintain a stable value by being pegged to an underlying asset such as the U.S. dollar. Their stability makes them a natural fit for payments, cross-border transactions and other everyday financial needs.

This Tracker explores why demand for digital-asset spending is growing, the barriers that continue to limit adoption, and how modern issuer-processing infrastructure is helping bridge the distance between ownership and utility.

Consumers Want Digital Assets to Behave Like Money

As digital assets move beyond investment use cases, consumers expect them to function like everyday money. Growing interest in spending stablecoins and cryptocurrencies is shifting attention from ownership to usability and creating demand for more familiar payment experiences.

Consumers want to spend digital assets, not just hold them.

The reasons for adopting stablecoins are practical, not ideological. Lower fees. Greater security. Access to dollar-denominated value. In many markets, stablecoins already handle cross-border transfers and remittances that traditional banking makes slow and expensive. These are not fringe behaviors. They are signs of a broader shift toward digital assets as financial tools with everyday utility.

Speculation is giving way to spending.

The numbers make the shift visible: Monthly crypto card spending grew roughly 15-fold between early 2023 and late 2025, reaching an annualized rate of approximately $18 billion. Meanwhile, stablecoin supply surpassed $300 billion and transaction volume topped $27 trillion in real economic activity during 2025 alone. These figures suggest that digital assets are evolving from niche holdings into assets that consumers and businesses actively use.

Paymentology’s experience in Asia-Pacific reflects this evolution, particularly in markets where demand for faster, more flexible payment options has helped drive digital-asset adoption. As RedotPay Co-Founder and Head of Partnerships Jonathan Chan observed, one of the biggest misconceptions about crypto payments is that they exist primarily for trading and speculation. In reality, digital assets can deliver tangible benefits to consumers through faster cross-border payments, lower transaction costs and access to global payment networks while preserving familiar payment experiences. As Chan noted, “Crypto often just sits behind the scenes, facilitating everyday payments.”

Consumers want familiar payment experiences, not crypto complexity.

This preference for familiarity is not subtle. Stablecoin users want the same features they already expect from traditional payment methods, including universal merchant acceptance, reliable transaction processing, consumer protections and simple user experiences. Consumers are not asking for a new way to pay. They are asking for digital assets to function like the money they already use.

The trend among younger consumers is striking. According to a 2025 survey, 71% of Gen Z consumers and 60% of millennials would consider using stablecoins for everyday purchases, compared to substantially lower shares among older generations. Future growth may depend less on convincing consumers of digital assets’ value and more on making them simple to use.

Yet despite growing interest, a significant divide remains between owning digital assets and spending them. Consumers can acquire cryptocurrencies and stablecoins through exchanges, wallets and financial apps, but opportunities to use those assets directly remain comparatively limited. Closing that divide may prove critical to determining whether digital assets evolve into mainstream payment instruments or remain primarily investment holdings.

The Real Challenge Is Not Demand but Usability

Consumer interest in spending digital assets is strong, but practical barriers remain. Merchant acceptance, trust and fragmented user experiences continue to limit adoption, creating a disconnect between consumers’ willingness to spend digital assets and their ability to do so easily.

Consumer demand is outpacing the current payment experience.

Merchant acceptance remains one of the most significant barriers. While 42% of stablecoin holders say they would like to use digital assets for major purchases, only 28% currently do so. Similarly, everyday and subscription spending rank among the most desired use cases globally, yet spending opportunities remain limited by merchant acceptance and fragmented payment experiences.

Trust and infrastructure remain critical barriers.

Trust shapes the picture too. More than three-quarters of consumers say they would open a crypto or stablecoin wallet through their current banking app if offered. That is not a crypto finding. It is a banking finding. Consumers are happy to use digital assets when they can do it through institutions they already know and trust.

Research from Binance similarly suggests that infrastructure challenges remain the primary obstacle to broader usage. Nearly half of respondents cite limited merchant acceptance as a barrier to spending cryptocurrency, while others point to transaction costs (45%), price volatility (43%) and fraud concerns (36%).

Traditional payment methods win on convenience. They work everywhere and require no thought. Until digital assets can match that, inertia will leave many consumers as passive observers.

Regulatory clarity may help accelerate adoption.

The regulatory environment has changed fast, and in the right direction. Two major frameworks arrived in 2025. In Europe, the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) entered full effect, establishing the world’s first comprehensive regulatory regime for digital assets across EU member states. MiCA set clear rules for stablecoin issuers, licensing requirements for crypto service providers, and consumer protection standards that had previously been absent across most of the region.

Europe moved first and set a global benchmark. In the United States, the GENIUS Act then established a federal framework for payment stablecoins, clarifying reserve requirements, issuer oversight and consumer protections. The law resolved years of ambiguity that had kept major institutions on the sidelines. Banks, card networks and FinTechs have since moved faster as a result. Together, MiCA and the GENIUS Act represent a turning point. For issuers operating across global markets, the regulatory tailwind is now real.

Still, regulatory clarity alone will not drive mainstream uptake. As one industry executive observed, the next stage of digital-asset growth will depend on the widespread adoption of infrastructure that allows consumers and businesses to access the benefits of digital currencies without navigating the complexity of blockchain networks themselves. Looking ahead, industry leaders envision a model in which digital assets serve as the underlying store of value and settlement mechanism, while user-friendly payment layers handle the transaction experience. The challenge, therefore, is building the infrastructure that connects digital assets to everyday commerce.

Digital-Asset-Linked Cards Are Closing the Gap

The next phase of digital-asset adoption may depend less on awareness and more on infrastructure. Linked card programs, real-time conversion and modern issuer-processing platforms are helping consumers spend digital assets through the payment experiences they already know.

Linked card programs make digital assets easier to use.

The friction goes away on both sides. Consumers keep using the cards and wallets they already know. Merchants get paid through the same systems they already use. The result is a payment experience that feels familiar even when digital assets are funding the transaction behind the scenes.

Modern issuer infrastructure is enabling the next phase of adoption.

As demand for digital-asset spending grows, the constraint shifts to infrastructure. Issuers and FinTechs need systems that can connect digital assets to traditional payment ecosystems without adding complexity for users. Modern issuer-processing platforms support capabilities such as real-time authorization, currency conversion and card issuance, helping organizations launch digital-asset-linked payment programs without requiring consumers, businesses or FIs to adopt entirely new financial behaviors.

Paymentology’s work with clients such as Rain illustrates how this model is evolving in practice. Rain scaled approximately 38-fold in 2025, reaching more than $3 billion in annualized spending after obtaining direct Visa network membership. The company then raised a $250 million Series C at a roughly $1.95 billion valuation in January 2026. That trajectory demonstrates what becomes possible when digital-asset-linked programs are built on modern issuer-processing infrastructure: faster iteration, broader market reach and stronger unit economics. As digital currencies continue to mature, the institutions that successfully bridge ownership and spendability will be best positioned to support the next phase of adoption.

Cross-border B2B is already one of the largest use cases, and not just for speed.

Consumer spending may dominate headlines, but the largest stablecoin payment flows already run through business-to-business (B2B) cross-border transactions. B2B transfers represent the majority of global stablecoin payment volume, and for good reason: They solve two distinct problems at once.

The first is speed and cost. Traditional cross-border wire transfers are slow and expensive, often taking days and consuming a meaningful share of the transaction in fees. Stablecoins settle in seconds at a fraction of the cost. The second driver is currency exposure, and it is just as significant. In markets where local currencies are depreciating, businesses and individuals use U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins to preserve purchasing power, access dollar-denominated liquidity and protect against inflation. This pattern is especially pronounced in Latin America, where countries including Argentina, Venezuela and Brazil have experienced sharp currency volatility, as well as parts of Asia-Pacific, where dollar access through traditional banking channels remains limited or costly. Holding stablecoins is not speculative in these markets. It is a practical hedge.

For issuers with international reach, these two use cases together make B2B cross-border infrastructure one of the clearest near-term growth opportunities. Building the capability to support these flows alongside consumer card programs is not a niche consideration. In large parts of the world, it is the primary reason stablecoins exist.

Building the Infrastructure for Spendable Digital Assets

Digital-asset adoption has moved past the ownership phase. Consumers and businesses now want to use these assets, not just hold them. The institutions best placed to compete will be those that remove the friction between owning a digital asset and actually spending it.

PYMNTS Intelligence offers the following actionable roadmap for issuers, FinTechs and payments providers looking to support the next generation of digital assets:

• Prepare for growing utility-driven demand. Interest in spending digital assets already outpaces actual spending in nearly every category. Organizations that build practical payment infrastructure now, including support for B2B and cross-border flows, will be ahead of the curve when the gap closes.
• Focus on familiar, trusted payment experiences. Consumers want digital assets to work through payment methods they already understand. Digital-asset-linked card programs through established banking relationships and seamless access through existing payment rails can help remove friction and support broader adoption.
• Partner for interoperability and scale. As digital-asset ecosystems expand, issuers should work with payment platforms capable of supporting multiple currencies, payment networks and conversion models while minimizing complexity for end users.

Digital assets broke into the mainstream as investments. Their next test is whether they can become everyday money. As stablecoins and other digital currencies move deeper into everyday commerce, the institutions that close the gap between ownership and usability will not just participate in the next chapter of digital payments. They will write it.