According to transaction data shared on Wednesday, OKX card users in Europe primarily spent on groceries, restaurants and other everyday purchases during the first month of the product.
Data shows that in the first month of availability across the European Economic Area (EEA), grocery stores and supermarkets accounted for 26% of all OKX Card transactions, while restaurants and fast food combined accounted for 18%, ahead of travel and online marketplaces.
The company said the analysis covered cleared purchase transactions made with OKX cards in the EEA between January 28 and February 26, across the top 20 merchants by number of transactions, transaction volume, and unique users.
An OKX spokesperson told Cointelegraph that the dataset spans all EEA markets where the card is publicly available, and that the snapshot captures “the majority of everyday spending behavior and high-value outliers,” excluding peer-to-peer transfers and including categories such as utilities.
The OKX numbers show clear national patterns behind the headline averages. For example, in France, bakeries account for 5% of OKX card transactions, compared to 2% across the EEA, highlighting the country’s boulangerie and cafe culture.
Spending habits by country. Source: OKX
In Germany, 30% of transactions occurred in online marketplaces, more than double the EEA average of 13%, while the Netherlands recorded 37% of transactions in supermarkets, with the highest share of groceries in the dataset.
Poland stands out for its in-person use of small-value tickets, with 16% of OKX card payments at convenience stores and around 9% at petrol stations, both above the EEA average.
The spokesperson said exchanging fiat currency for cryptocurrencies in everyday payments is a new practice, and argued that the data challenges the stereotype of crypto cards being used primarily for luxury items, and instead shows groceries and coffee purchased by “everyday people.”
The company said country-level differences largely reflect existing cultural habits, but argued that they indicate that stablecoin-funded card payments are beginning to replace traditional cards in customers’ daily lives, not just for occasional big-ticket purchases.
Part of a broader trend in Europe
Broader market data shows this finding is not unique to OKX, with other crypto card providers in Europe reporting similar patterns of small daily transactions.
According to a 2025 Cex.io report, about 45% of cryptocurrency card transactions in Europe are for amounts less than 10 euros ($11.75), and about 40% of such card transactions take place online, nearly double the eurozone average share of online card payments of about 21%.
Separate Brighty data reported by Cointelegraph in April showed that Spain accounted for about 36% of retail transactions and 25% of total transaction volume for Circle’s euro stablecoin EURC from 2025 to the first quarter of 2026, with an average payment amount of about 49 euros ($58), showing that the stablecoin is already being used in Spain for everyday purchases and peer-to-peer transfers.
