Visa Ends Meme Coin Credit Card Rewards Loophole
Visa is ending a meme coin credit card rewards loophole that let users earn points and cash back on crypto purchases. Payment processors must stop using merchant category code 5815, intended for digital media, and classify meme coin transactions as cryptocurrency purchases instead.
The issue involved Crossmint, Fomo and Robinhood Wallet. Chase flagged the coding, after which Visa asked processors including Checkout.com to correct the classification. Crossmint said its approach was linked to regulatory interpretations that treated some meme coins as collectibles. Some transactions also lacked clear crypto-asset markers.
The compliance grace period is expected to end next week. Meme coin purchases should then lose digital-media rewards and may face stricter KYC and compliance checks. New York Attorney General Letitia James’s office is reviewing Crossmint’s product, while Mastercard has not confirmed a similar policy.
The Visa change is unlikely to have a direct effect on meme coin prices or market liquidity. However, it could reduce credit-card-funded demand, add friction for retail traders and signal tighter standardisation across crypto payment rails.
Neutral
The direct price impact on meme coins is likely neutral. The policy targets credit-card rewards and transaction classification, not trading access, token supply or exchange liquidity. In the short term, some retail buyers may reduce credit-card-funded purchases, creating modest demand pressure, but the affected payment channel is relatively narrow and is unlikely to drive broad market selling.
Over the longer term, stricter classification, KYC and compliance checks could reduce frictionless retail participation and weaken speculative inflows into meme coins. However, traders may shift to bank transfers, debit cards or crypto-native platforms. Similar payment-policy changes have generally produced limited and temporary price effects unless they coincide with wider regulatory enforcement. The main market signal is tighter oversight of crypto payment rails, rather than a fundamental change to meme coin valuations.