According to a Friday report by the newsletter Crypto in America, Visa is taking steps to prevent crypto payment processors from labeling memecoin acquisitions under a “digital media” classification, a loophole that previously permitted individuals to purchase memecoins using credit cards while accumulating standard rewards points or cash back.
This development comes in the wake of The Block’s September 1 inquiry focusing on Crossmint—the company facilitating these deals for popular applications like Robinhood Wallet and Fomo—alongside its payment processor, Checkout.com, which was explicitly informed that this classification is no longer valid for memecoin transactions, as stated in the publication referencing an informed insider and reviewed communications.
Based on assessments by The Block, Crossmint’s memecoin purchasing feature is still operational on both platforms at the time of writing. Crypto in America indicated that Visa has granted the processing entities a transition period concluding next week, after which these transactions must be handled as standard cryptocurrency payments subject to Visa’s usual limitations.
A representative for Crossmint shared with The Block, “Crossmint maintains good standing with Visa, Mastercard, and all of our payment and card network partners. Our position and procedures on how we process digital goods through our platform has not changed … If that guidance is updated, our procedures will be updated with it.”
The Block’s inquiry revealed that memecoin acquisitions on these platforms were assigned merchant category code (MCC) 5815, normally reserved for digital media items such as audiobooks or streaming video, and lacked specific identifiers denoting that the transactions involved digital assets.
Crossmint previously explained to The Block that it considered this classification suitable due to SEC commentary suggesting certain memecoins might resemble collectibles within a securities framework, though payment specialists noted to The Block that regulatory views from the SEC do not generally dictate how transactions must be classified under card-network standards.
At the time, Chase informed The Block that it viewed the category as unsuitable for memecoin purchases and escalated the situation to Visa. Furthermore, the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James stated to The Block that it was familiar with Crossmint’s offering and reviewing the situation.
Certain digital assets provided via Crossmint’s Token Checkout service also seemed to push the limits of what constitutes a “memecoin” under the company’s definitions, including GENIUS by Genius Terminal, the native asset of a non-custodial trading application lacking any clear roots as an online joke or cultural phenomenon. Following inquiries from The Block regarding how these tokens were classified, both GENIUS and another asset, DEGEN, were removed from Crossmint’s Apple Pay purchasing options.
During an interview for the initial story, Crossmint Head of Strategy Fonz Olvera stated to The Block, “Complying with regulation, especially now that we’re a regulated financial entity, is super important, but we’re always going to have a little bit of tension between the business and the law that is healthy.”
On the other hand, Mastercard has not made public whether it has delivered comparable directives to payment processing companies. Both Mastercard and Checkout.com did not promptly reply to inquiries for comment submitted by The Block. Visa opted not to comment on a prior request from The Block regarding whether the payment network intended to limit the application of the digital media category for memecoin transactions.
Updated at 1:33 p.m. ET to include a statement from a Crossmint spokesperson.
Originally published at https://www.theblock.co/news/regulation/2026-09-19-visa-to-close-crossmint-memecoin-rewards-loophole-following-the-block-investigation-report-415866.
