By Vadym Nesterenko, Strategic Advisor at Kolibrio
The bridge between crypto and everyday finance has always been shaky. For years, the “last mile” problem of turning onchain capital into spendable money has slowed mainstream adoption. But recent advances in payment infrastructure are closing that gap.
From Stripe’s USDC payouts to the Coinbase Card, onchain-to-offchain payment systems are becoming easier to integrate. Yet, most of these solutions are still just plumbing, moving funds from point A to point B without much intelligence in between.
The question arises: who could be the next frontier? I believe the answer is programmable credit cards: payment instruments capable of both processing transactions and executing logic before and during the spend.
What makes programmable cards different?
Traditional cards function as simple conduits: they check for available balance and authorize the charge. Programmable cards layer in execution rules, dynamic routing, and capital protection before the payment even leaves your wallet.
With a programmable card, spending becomes more dynamic and controlled. You could use only the yield from your portfolio without touching the principal, automatically rebalance assets before funding a payment, and draw from the lowest-cost liquidity source in real time. Among the available features are setting personalized restrictions, blocking any transaction that violates your own rules, such as exceeding a specific limit or falling outside defined merchant categories.
Thus, the card becomes an extension of your onchain strategy, rather than a way to liquidate it. It transforms everyday payments into opportunities: it optimizes returns, manages risk automatically, and diminishes additional effort from the user.
How the concept works in practice.
When you use your programmable card to pay, for example, at a restaurant, the system first checks how much your crypto portfolio earned in yield over the past week. Only that earned amount is used to cover the payment. If your yield isn’t enough, the system can automatically adjust your portfolio by selling or moving assets to make up the difference.
If that is not possible, or you prefer, the payment is declined. This way, your spending is directly linked to your investment performance, using smart automation that traditional financial cards cannot provide.
Modern Solutions
Some crypto wallet companies are actively exploring the programmable card concept.
Brahma combines automation tools with advanced security to turn on-chain capital into a programmable budget that follows the user’s custom rules. Its focus on seamless automation and capital protection enables users to spend only yield or automatically rebalance assets before making payments.
Another player on the market is Gnosis Pay. Its decentralized payments network removes the barriers between TradFi and DeFi. Gnosis Pay offers a bank card linked to a crypto wallet, enabling users to pay directly with cryptocurrencies without needing a traditional bank account.
One more notable example is Ready (formerly Argent). It’s a smart wallet that has many innovative features, including extra safety measures such as social recovery and multi-signature approvals.
Comparing Approaches
All aforementioned approaches are innovative but still differ. Brahma puts flexible automation and smart capital management first, letting users set custom spending rules that work hand-in-hand with their yield. Gnosis Pay bridges TradFi and DeFi with a crypto-linked bank card, allowing everyday payments directly in cryptocurrencies. Ready focuses mainly on security and easy-to-use smart wallet features, making sure programmable spending stays safe from common risks.
The UX Challenge
For programmable cards to work, two major UX questions need to be addressed. The first is who will program the logic. Power users might create their own smart policies, while most people will rely on ready-made templates such as “spend yield only,” “auto-rebalance before spending,” or “emergency fund mode”.
The second is how to avoid misfires. Payment declines at the checkout line are a terrible experience, so the logic must account for execution time, slippage, and edge cases to ensure users aren’t left stranded. Ultimately, the challenge lies in balancing flexibility with reliability, the same trade-off DeFi has struggled with for years.
The Third-Person Perspective
I see programmable cards as the next logical step toward mainstream DeFi. To me, programmable capital is the missing link between onchain finance and everyday life. When spending rules can be enforced, asset management automated, and payments routed dynamically, all in the background, DeFi stops being just an investment playground and starts becoming real money.
The key is to build safeguards so automation strengthens trust rather than erodes it. That belief is why I joined Brahma early on as both an angel investor and a product advisor, because I see its potential. And that future is already taking shape: the company is thriving and growing, showing that innovation in DeFi is deeply valued.
Where fintech cards rely on bank-led controls, programmable cards open the door for autonomous agents to act on behalf of the user. These agents can execute multi-step policies, from yield harvesting to risk checks, before approving a $5 coffee purchase.
Conclusion
Programmable cards are still in early exploration. If successful, they could do for DeFi spending what smart contracts did for DeFi investing, unlocking entirely new behaviors, products, and markets.
*And maybe, in a few years, your credit card won’t just be a piece of plastic. It’ll be a programmable agent managing your capital in the background, making every purchase a portfolio decision.