Visa crypto card spending just exploded, and this is one of the more underrated signals out there.
In 2025, net spend through Visa-linked crypto cards surged 525%, jumping from $14.6M to $91.3M, per Dune Analytics. That’s not speculation, not leverage, not narratives. That’s people actually spending crypto in the real world.
This matters more than most realize. Adoption doesn’t arrive with fireworks, it shows up quietly in payment rails, consumer behavior, and boring infrastructure metrics like this one. While prices chop and sentiment stays fragile, usage keeps climbing in the background.
It also highlights a shift. Crypto isn’t just being held or traded, it’s being integrated. Stablecoins, settlement layers, and card rails are doing what they were supposed to do.
Markets can stay irrational for a while, but utility compounds. Metrics like this don’t spike by accident. They build, slowly, then suddenly.
Over $657M in token unlocks are scheduled to hit the market this week, and this is one of those moments where context matters more than headlines.
Unlocks are often framed as automatic sell pressure, but that’s a lazy take. What they really do is introduce supply and force the market to show its hand. Strong projects with real demand tend to absorb unlocks quietly. Weaker ones don’t.
In periods like this, liquidity matters. If bids are thin and sentiment is fragile, unlocks can exaggerate downside moves. If positioning is light and fear is already priced in, they can pass with surprisingly little impact.
This is also where relative strength becomes obvious. Assets that hold structure during unlock weeks are usually the ones institutions and longer-term players are already positioned in.
Volatility will pick up regardless. The key isn’t predicting direction, it’s watching how price reacts after the supply actually hits.
Markets always reveal who’s prepared and who isn’t.