Nexo Card Report · November 2026

Digital assets and the European lifestyle

How clients across Europe fund everyday life with digital assets: from the long lunch to the summer flight.

European Economic Area • Full year data

Stablecoin share of debit spending

%

In Debit Mode, most everyday spending went through stablecoins.

Average transaction value

About 2 times the European Central Bank card payment baseline of €38.

Online vs. in-store parity

%/%

E-commerce adoption is 2.5x higher than the Eurozone remote payment baseline of 19%.

Executive summary

A new financial architecture for modern Europe

Across checkouts, booking portals, and dining rooms, European consumers are quietly reshaping how they manage wealth and daily liquidity. Drawing from a full year of aggregated, anonymized Nexo Card transaction data across the European Economic Area, Digital assets and the European lifestyle explores how four generations of spenders are integrating digital assets into everyday life.

The data reveals a financially active, digitally native consumer who spends in the same everyday categories as the broader public, but with higher purchasing power. Rather than liquidating long-term holdings during market cycles, spenders are adopting a dual-track approach: utilizing stablecoins for immediate purchases while leveraging credit lines to keep core capital untouched.

Key findings

What a year of card spend reveals.

Drawing from a full year of aggregated, anonymized Nexo Card transaction data across the European Economic Area.

Two ways to spend

Stablecoins for daily flow, credit for capital preservation.

All debit spending

72.7%Paid with stablecoins

Stablecoin usage rose to 72.7% of all debit spending, cementing pegged assets as the default currency for real-world settlement. On the credit side, volatile assets like Bitcoin and Ether remain untouched, serving as collateral to unlock cash flow without triggering premature liquidations.

The experiential shift

Prioritizing travel and dining over material goods.

All food & drink spending

88.5%Spent in sit‑down restaurants

Travel (15.9%), food and drink (11.0%), and leisure (5.0%) combine for nearly a third of total spend volume. Within food and drink, 88.5% of spending takes place in sit-down restaurants, reflecting a consumer base actively prioritizing shared experiences and lifestyle choices.

Generational commercial engines

Mid-career professionals drive high-volume growth.

All transaction volume

38.1%Generated by spenders aged 36–45from 30.8% of the user base

Spenders aged 36–45 generate 38.1% of overall transaction volume despite making up 30.8% of the user base. Meanwhile, younger cohorts lead the surge in social spending, dining, and leisure, while older generations utilize digital asset platforms primarily for strategic financial management.

Generations

Four generations. Four spending cultures. One card.

Each generation spends differently, prioritizes differently, and uses the card for structurally different reasons. One-size-fits-all is over.

The full report

Access the full 2026 research report

Download Digital assets and the European lifestyle to get complete access to category breakdowns, generational spending profiles, and macroeconomic benchmarks.

Download the full report

PDF · EEA full-year data · November 2026

Not intended for residents of the United Kingdom.

What you will find in the full report

  1. Full category breakdown

    Comprehensive data on retail, travel, food & drink, services, and leisure spending.

  2. Wealth tier dynamics

    How Henry and Affluent tiers expanded their volume share from 28% to 35% through 2025.

  3. The asset breakdown

    How debit spending splits between stablecoins, Bitcoin, Ether and other assets.

  4. Funding mode comparison

    How spenders choose between credit mode and debit mode depending on purchase size and merchant category.

Digital assets and the European lifestyle: consumer spending behavior report, January to December 2025