Crypto card spending is entering a new phase. What began as a niche experiment in using digital assets for everyday purchases has grown into a meaningful payments market. According to Artemis Analytics, crypto card spending increased from roughly $100 million a month in early 2023 to more than $1.5 billion by late 2025.
That expansion represents a significant change in how crypto users interact with their assets, shifting digital currencies from primarily investment instruments toward tools for everyday consumption.
For years, competition among crypto cards largely revolved around incentives. Cashback, rewards points, discounts and different membership tiers became the primary weapons used by platforms attempting to attract users.
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The strategy was understandable: if consumers could earn additional benefits while spending crypto or crypto-linked balances, they had another reason to choose one card over another.
But the rapid growth of transaction volumes suggests that the market may be reaching a point where rewards alone are no longer enough. Phemex is attempting to approach the opportunity differently with the Phemex Card, which began rolling out to eligible users.
Rather than treating a crypto card simply as a rewards product, the broader proposition is about connecting crypto trading infrastructure with everyday payments.
That distinction matters because the biggest challenge for crypto adoption has never been only acquiring digital assets. It has been making those assets useful outside exchanges and wallets. A user may hold Bitcoin, stablecoins or other digital assets, but spending them traditionally requires additional steps.
A card can reduce that friction by providing a familiar payment interface while connecting the transaction to a crypto-based financial ecosystem. The growth reported by Artemis also points to changing consumer behavior.
At more than $1.5 billion in monthly spending, crypto cards are no longer operating solely within the boundaries of crypto-native communities. The technology is increasingly competing for ordinary payment activity, where convenience, acceptance, security and transparency can matter as much as financial rewards.
This creates a more demanding environment for card providers. Cashback can attract a customer, but it may not keep that customer if the product is difficult to use, poorly integrated with their existing financial habits or expensive during periods of market volatility.
The next stage of competition is therefore likely to focus on the entire user experience. For Phemex, the card rollout arrives as exchanges increasingly expand beyond trading.
The evolution reflects a wider industry trend in which crypto platforms are attempting to become broader financial ecosystems, connecting exchanges, wallets, payments and potentially other financial services.
There are still important questions. Crypto card users need clarity around fees, exchange rates, asset conversion, supported jurisdictions, spending limits and the tax implications of transactions. Regulatory requirements can also differ significantly between markets, making global expansion more complicated.
The trajectory is difficult to ignore. The rise from approximately $100 million to more than $1.5 billion in monthly spending shows that consumers are becoming increasingly comfortable using crypto-connected payment products.
The next contest may not be about who offers the largest cashback percentage. It may be about who can make spending digital assets feel as simple, reliable and familiar as using a conventional payment card. That could prove more important than any rewards tier.
Bitcoin Reclaims $86,000 as $110M in Shorts Liquidated While NEAR Intents Freezes Swaps After $3.8M Bug
Bitcoin’s return above $86,000 has delivered another reminder that crypto markets can move violently in both directions, sometimes within minutes.
Bitcoin climbed to $86,912 as roughly $110 million worth of short positions were wiped out in just 10 minutes, creating a sharp liquidation event that accelerated the price move.
Yet beneath the rally, the market is sending a more complicated signal: US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds recorded $148.7 million in net outflows, ending a nine-day streak of inflows.
The divergence matters. Bitcoin’s price action suggests renewed buying pressure and forced positioning, while ETF flows indicate that institutional demand was less supportive on the day. These forces can coexist.
A market can rise because traders covering bearish positions add buying pressure even as some investors withdraw capital from regulated investment products. Short liquidations are particularly important in highly leveraged markets.
Traders betting that Bitcoin would fall are forced to buy the asset when their positions are liquidated, adding demand at precisely the moment prices are moving higher. That can create a feedback loop: rising prices trigger liquidations, liquidations create additional buying, and the resulting momentum pushes prices higher.
But liquidation-driven rallies are not necessarily the same as durable accumulation. The $148.7 million ETF outflow shows why traders and investors need to look beyond a single price move. The end of a nine-day inflow streak does not automatically establish a trend reversal.
But it demonstrates that institutional flows can change even while Bitcoin remains strong. The second major development comes from NEAR Intents, where a technical bug forced the platform to freeze cross-chain swaps after approximately $3.8 million was drained.
NEAR GM said the attacker had been identified and was given 48 hours to return the funds, while the platform stated that affected users would be repaid. The incident highlights one of the most persistent challenges in decentralized finance.
Interoperability increases functionality, but it can also expand the number of technical surfaces that need to be secured. Cross-chain systems must coordinate assets and transactions across different blockchain environments, making their architecture considerably more complex than a simple transfer within one network.
NEAR’s decision to freeze swaps demonstrates the difficult balance between decentralization, security and user protection. Halting activity can limit further losses, but it also interrupts a service that users depend on.
The commitment to repay affected users, meanwhile, shifts part of the immediate financial burden away from victims, although the longer-term questions surrounding security, accountability and system design remain.
The Bitcoin rally and NEAR incident capture two sides of the crypto market. On one side is extraordinary liquidity, leverage and price momentum, capable of erasing $110 million in bearish positions within minutes.
On the other is infrastructure risk, where a software vulnerability can remove millions of dollars from users almost instantly. For investors, the lesson is not simply to watch Bitcoin’s price.
ETF flows, leverage, liquidation data and protocol security all provide different pieces of the market’s picture. Bitcoin reclaiming $86,000 may signal renewed momentum.
But the accompanying capital flows and continuing vulnerabilities across decentralized infrastructure show why crypto remains a market where opportunity and risk can emerge simultaneously.