OKX Card Spending Jumps 280% in Europe as Crypto Enters Everyday Payments

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• OKX says spending on its crypto debit card in Europe rose 280% year-over-year this summer, with transactions up 178% over the same period.
• The company’s data shows the fastest growth in groceries and transport, categories it says point to crypto moving into daily spending rather than speculation.
• The claim comes as Visa and Mastercard build competing stablecoin payment infrastructure, and after new EU licensing rules cut the number of authorized crypto firms to 244.

OKX said spending on its crypto-linked debit card in Europe grew 280% year-over-year this summer, with transaction volume up 178% over the same stretch, according to figures the exchange published alongside a company announcement, as OKX launches AI platform to expand its crypto and Web3 product offering.

Erald Ghoos, chief executive of OKX Europe, said “the most interesting part of this growth isn’t simply that customers are spending more,” pointing to a shift toward everyday essentials like groceries and transport rather than occasional high-value purchases.

Groceries and transport lead the growth

OKX’s data covers Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and France between February and July. Monthly users buying groceries on the card rose 65% over that period, accelerating to 221% user growth and 482% purchase-volume growth between May and July alone. Transport and fuel usage climbed faster still: users up 263% and purchase volume up 530% over the same three months.

Country breakdowns show how established the pattern is. In Poland, groceries, transport and utilities make up 31.7% of all card spending, the highest share among the four markets; the Netherlands follows at 22.2%, Germany at 20.4% and France at 14.1%.

The card currently pays 2% to 10% cashback on eligible purchases, 3.5% annual yield on USDG balances held before spending through a feature called Pay Boost, and up to 50% rebates on subscriptions including Netflix, ChatGPT and Claude, as OKX is currently promoting.

Card networks are moving the same direction

OKX’s card runs on Mastercard’s network, which agreed in March to acquire stablecoin infrastructure firm BVNK for up to $1.8 billion, a deal it closed in August, adding roughly $30 billion in annual stablecoin volume to its business. Visa’s own stablecoin settlement pilot reached a $7 billion annualized run rate by the end of April, spread across nine blockchains.

The regulatory backdrop

OKX needed a Payment Institution license from Malta’s regulator to legally operate the card under the EU’s MiCA and PSD2 rules. It secured that license in February 2026, weeks after launching the card across the EEA in January. Ghoos said the license put OKX’s payment products “on a fully compliant footing.”

That license mattered more once MiCA’s transition deadline arrived on July 1, 2026: only 244 crypto firms held the licensing needed to keep serving EU customers, down from a market of close to 2,000 platforms before the deadline. OKX was among the firms that secured a license in time, as the exchange also strengthened its leadership and U.S. strategy with Andrew Cuomo joining the OKX board.

In February 2025, OKX agreed to pay the US Department of Justice roughly $504 million to resolve an investigation into money-transmission and anti-money-laundering compliance failures at the exchange.