Visa closes meme coin rewards loophole ahead of merchant code deadline

Visa has ordered payment processors to stop routing meme coin credit card purchases through a merchant code meant for digital media, closing a rewards loophole that a grace period was set to end this week. The move follows an investigation showing customers used Apple Pay and Google Pay to buy tokens on Visa and Mastercard credit cards with no separate identity check.

• Crossmint checkouts classified token purchases under merchant category code 5815, meant for e-books, streaming and music.
• Chase disputed one charge with Visa, saying it was miscoded and should not have earned rewards.
• New York Attorney General Letitia James’s office confirmed it is aware of and reviewing the matter.

• 5815 digital-media code used instead of crypto’s required 6012 or 6051
• 90% share of on-chain card payments Visa processes, per a May report
• Feb 2025 SEC staff statement Crossmint cites to defend the coding

Visa’s directive targets a workaround built into checkouts run by Crossmint, a crypto payments firm whose technology powers card-based token buying on the Fomo and Robinhood Wallet apps. Processors including Checkout.com were told the code would no longer be accepted for those transactions, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The Block Found No Identity Check on Card-Funded Token Buys

An investigation by The Block found that customers could buy tokens with Visa and Mastercard credit cards through Apple Pay or Google Pay without any separate verification step. Because the charges ran under code 5815, they were never flagged as crypto and drew ordinary points and cash back instead.

Visa’s own rules call for codes 6012 or 6051 plus a quasi-cash signal on crypto purchases. Chase’s rewards terms treat those transactions like cash, with no points.

Chase Disputes a Charge as Letitia James’s Office Reviews

Chase told Visa that one charge tied to the workaround was miscoded, was never flagged as a cryptocurrency purchase, and should not have generated rewards. The bank opened a formal case with Visa disputing the classification.

A spokesperson for New York Attorney General Letitia James said her office is aware of and reviewing the matter. Visa told at least one industry participant that meme coin purchases simply do not fit the digital-goods code.

Crossmint Cites a February 2025 SEC Statement, Law Professor Disagrees

Crossmint defended its coding by pointing to a February 27, 2025, staff statement from the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance, which described typical meme coins as “akin to collectibles” rather than securities offerings. The company said the 5815 classification was cleared with partners during onboarding and that its handling of digital goods has not changed.

Vanderbilt Law School professor Yesha Yadav pushed back on that framing, calling SEC guidance and card-network rules two separate regimes.

SEC guidance and card-network rules two different regimes.

Yesha Yadav, Vanderbilt Law School professor

After questions were raised about how Crossmint categorized the GENIUS and DEGEN tokens, both became unavailable through Apple Pay and Google Pay on Fomo and Robinhood Wallet. Meme coin buying continued on both apps, with the Crossmint checkout still live as of Saturday.

The CCS read. This closes one narrow rewards loophole, not the broader card-crypto integration that Robinhood Wallet, Fomo and issuers like the ones behind Brave’s Rewards Card are still building around. Expect processors to route future token purchases through proper quasi-cash codes rather than exit the business, since Visa’s own 90% share of on-chain card payments gives it more leverage over compliance than any single issuer dispute.

Chase’s dispute with Visa over the miscoded charge remains unresolved, and Letitia James’s office has not said whether its review will extend beyond the single transaction it confirmed examining. Rewards on meme coin purchases are expected to disappear once those transactions run under standard crypto codes, but whether Crossmint applies the same fix to tokens beyond GENIUS and DEGEN is still an open question.