Invest1 publisher2 min readPublished
Visa reroutes meme coin card purchases onto crypto merchant codes
Chase challenged a single misclassified Visa purchase. The network has told payment processors that the code covering e-books and music will not carry meme coin checkouts. The Clarity Act failed to advance in the Senate the same week.
The Investor · Invest desk
What happened
- Visa is moving to close a loophole in Crossmint-powered checkouts that let meme coin purchases made with credit cards clear under a merchant code meant for ordinary digital media.
- The Block's test purchases, made with both Visa and Mastercard credit cards, were coded as digital goods media, the category typically used for e-books, movies and music.
- Chase said one Visa transaction had not been flagged as a cryptocurrency purchase and had been assigned the wrong merchant category code, and it opened a case with Visa challenging the classification.
- Payment processors have been given a grace period to wind the practice down, and that period is expected to end next week.
- The New York attorney general's office told The Block it was aware of the matter and reviewing it.
Compiled by The InvestorSomething wrong?How this is made
Why it matters
- constraint Whether a meme coin purchase earns points depends on the code a processor selects and the network polices, and Visa's crypto rules and restrictions attach once it is coded that way.
- precedent One disputed transaction and one case at a network delivered what the Senate route did not deliver for banks, so issuers have a cheaper template for the next rewards dispute.
- exposure Robinhood Wallet and Fomo checkouts are exposed to a coding decision taken between Visa and an infrastructure provider, without either app being a party to it.
- decision Crossmint's defence rests on a 2025 SEC staff statement about collectibles, and it now has to decide whether that argument is worth making to a payment network at all.
Banks lost the large version of this argument this week. The Clarity Act failed to advance in the Senate, and their bid for tighter restrictions on stablecoin rewards came away with nothing [6]. Crypto In America, Eleanor Terrett's newsletter, reported that JP Morgan had taken a narrower win in a separate fight over credit card rewards on crypto purchases [7][16].
The cost of using that venue was one complaint and one case opened at a network [17]. In correspondence reviewed by Crypto In America, Visa told at least one industry participant that the digital goods media code is not appropriate for meme coin purchases [12]. A source familiar with the matter said Visa has also informed processors, including Checkout.com, that the code will no longer be accepted for those transactions [13].
Booking the purchase as digital goods media let customers earn ordinary points or cash back on meme coins [10]. Crossmint defended the approach by pointing to a 2025 SEC staff statement that described certain meme coins as akin to collectibles rather than securities [11]. That argument addresses securities law. Visa's letter addresses which code a processor may send [12].
"The message to the crypto industry is clear: Stop being cute, stay in your lane and use the appropriate codes," the source said [15]. Visa and Crossmint did not immediately respond to requests for comment [14].
There are limits to the idea that the network rulebook is where crypto payments policy gets set. The Block's test purchases ran on Mastercard credit cards as well as Visa's, and if that flow keeps clearing under the media code, then one network has tidied its own book and nothing wider has moved [20]. The account of what Visa told processors also rests on a single source familiar with the matter plus correspondence a newsletter has seen [13][12].
A third limit matters most in practice. Terrett's account describes a merchant code change; the path The Block tested, where buyers reached meme coins through Apple Pay or Google Pay without completing a separate KYC process, is not part of what Visa is reported to have addressed [18][8]. I would expect the rulebook to keep moving first on this, because it takes one complainant and a letter to processors.
What to watch
- Any Mastercard instruction to processors covering the same Crossmint-powered checkout flow.
- Whether the New York attorney general's office moves from reviewing the matter to a filing.
- Whether Robinhood Wallet and Fomo keep credit card payment once purchases clear under crypto codes.