Visa is closing the loophole that gave memecoin buyers cashback

Cashback on a bonding curve

The mechanics were mundane and the implication was not. The Block's investigation found that users of the Robinhood Wallet and Fomo apps could buy memecoins with credit cards via Apple Pay or Google Pay without completing a separate KYC process. Test purchases made through Crossmint with both Visa and Mastercard cards came back coded as digital media rather than crypto — which meant points and cash back on what was, functionally, a leveraged punt on a joke token.

one Visa transaction had not been flagged as a cryptocurrency purchase, had been assigned the wrong merchant category code and should not have earned rewards

Chase, as reported by The Block

Visa's fix is narrow. Memecoin purchases continue; they simply have to be coded as crypto transactions and therefore fall under Visa's corresponding rules and restrictions. Decrypt reports the change was set to take effect the following week.

• 💀Card-funded memecoin buys now carry crypto-transaction restrictions, not media-category rewards
• 💀Some issuers treat crypto purchases as cash advances — different fees, different interest treatment
• 💀A state attorney general is already looking at the KYC question raised in the reporting

Also this week

The pump.fun iOS app returned to the US and India App Stores on September 18, restoring the mobile on-ramp that had gone missing earlier in the month. Separately, Solana moved to 250-millisecond slot times at epoch 1037 on the same day, down from 300ms — faster confirmations for everyone, including people who very much did not need to be faster.