Card economics · as of 2026-07-14
$11.8B
of annual crypto-card spend produces just $22M of net profit — estimated spend, revenue, profit and valuation for 10 stablecoin card programs, from on-chain settlement plus disclosed financials.
Intelligence
What the numbers say.
RedotPay owns the profit — $150–200M stated ARR (Jul 2026), the only card making real money (~$30M net), and ~48% of all card spend.
Most run at a loss. Beyond RedotPay & KAST, cards are break-even to loss-making — subsidized by VC money and token-emission cashback (Gnosis=GNO, Plasma=XPL).
Rain is the layer underneath — Rain ($1.95B) issues the cards behind KAST, Ether.fi & Avici, worth more than any consumer card. Picks and shovels.
Leaderboard
How much do crypto cards actually make?
Estimated annual card spend, revenue, net profit and valuation for the major stablecoin cards.
| Card | Card spend / yr | Revenue / yr | Net profit | Valuation | Cashback |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Company-stated $150–200M ARR (Jul 2026, all products; midpoint shown) — ≈3% of card spend vs the ~1.5% card-only standard. Card-attributable ≈ $85M. Total payment volume ~$10B/yr (self-reported). | $5.68B | $175M | $30M | $2–3B | 2–3% |
Company-wide run-rate (all products), ~$5B/yr total volume. Trailing-30d loads $249M (June record $199M month included). | $2.99B | $78M | ~$0 | $600M | cash / points |
Issuing infrastructure behind KAST, Ether.fi, Karta, Tria, Kolo, Avici & Ready (Visa + Mastercard Principal Member). $1.95B Series C (ICONIQ, Jan 2026). Spend shown = unbranded Rain-family settlement we index. | $1.99B | $40M | ~$0 | $1.95B | varies |
| $1.34B | $35M | −$1M | $320M (ETHFI mc) | tiered | |
Added 2026-07-14. Rain-issued; Base settlement exact-match verified vs Paymentscan. Revenue = 1.5% take (no disclosure). | $508M | $7.6M | N/A | n/a | n/a |
Launched June 2026, scaling fast ($36.9M/30d). Revenue = 1.5% take; cashback paid in XPL (token), so cash cost is low. Valuation = XPL market cap. | $443M | $6.6M | N/A | $236M (XPL) | XPL token |
Marked down 2026-07-14: tracked settlement runs ~$25M/30d — the prior $1.4B/yr spend and $40M/yr modeled revenue no longer hold on observed volume. Revenue = 1.5% take. | $296M | $4.4M | ~$0 | $165M | WXT token |
Volume-based revenue (1.5%); per-brand settlement cracked via Rain controller, verified vs Paymentscan. | $164M | $2.5M | −$2M | $12M (TRIA mc) | TRIA token |
Volume-based revenue (1.5%); custodial — volume via Paymentscan. | $104M | $1.6M | −$2M | $4M raised | CYPR token |
Volume-based revenue (1.5% shown; EU interchange cap means the real take is likely lower). | $98M | $1.5M | −$3M | $282M (GNO mc) | GNO token |
| Total | $11.8B | $352M | $22M |
✓ verified = company-disclosed revenue · all other figures estimated (revenue ≈ card spend × ~1.5–3% take; net profit after costs)
Efficiency
Revenue per employee.
Which teams punch above their weight — estimated annual revenue divided by headcount.
| # | Company | Revenue | Employees | Open jobs | Rev / emp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | RedotPay✓ | $175M | 157 | 12 | $1.1M |
| 2 | Ether.fi Cash | $35M | 68 | 13 | $0.5M |
| 3 | KAST✓ | $78M | 182 | 23 | $0.4M |
| 4 | Rain | $40M | 161 | 38 | $0.2M |
| 5 | Plasma One | $6.6M | 59 | — | $0.1M |
| 6 | Gnosis Pay | $1.5M | 15 | 2 | $0.1M |
| 7 | Cypher | $1.6M | 18 | 0 | $89K |
| 8 | Tria | $2.5M | 38 | 0 | $66K |
| 9 | Wirex | $4.4M | 270 | 5 | $16K |
Headcount from LinkedIn · open roles as of 2026-07-14 · revenue estimated except where ✓ verified
Methodology
How we built this.
Card spend = tracked settlement (OpenRate index / Paymentscan), trailing 30 complete days ×12. Not total payment volume.
Revenue: company-disclosed ARR where stated (RedotPay $150–200M Jul 2026 — midpoint shown; KAST $78M), else a 1.5% card-only blended take (interchange + FX + fees) on card spend.
Net profit = estimate after cashback, scheme fees & overhead; cash basis (token cashback = dilution, not a cash cost).
EU programs (Gnosis Pay) net far less interchange (~0.2–0.3% cap) → structurally lower margin.
✓ verified = company-disclosed revenue; all other figures are estimates. Observational analysis, not investment advice.
Revenue/valuation figures are self-reported or estimated; net-profit figures are estimates. Observational analysis, not investment advice. See also our card spend tracker and farming study.
OpenRate Economics
The whole sector's P&L, in one table.
$11.8B of card spend, $352M of revenue, $22M of profit — measured on-chain, checked against disclosures.