Onchain Payments Carve Out Niche in Accessibility

Onchain payments have gained significant traction in recent times, despite lagging behind real-time systems like FedNow and RTP in terms of speed and cost. According to an analysis by Dune, crypto card spending has nearly quadrupled over the past year to $492 million per month as of August 2026, with agent payments surging to 15.3 million transactions during the same period.

The real-time payment systems have leveled the playing field in terms of speed and cost, but onchain payments are making their mark in areas traditional rails can't reach. For instance, crypto cards allow users to spend directly from an onchain balance at merchants worldwide, with 142,510 users spending $492 million this way in August.

Agent payments, which typically involve microtransactions below $0.01, are another area where onchain systems excel. These transfers - often automated and software-driven - accounted for 13.3 million transactions in August, a feat that traditional payment systems can't replicate due to their prohibitively expensive fees.