Visa & Stripe Plan Stablecoin Card for 100+ Countries
In a direct competitive move, Visa and Stripe's stablecoin unit, Bridge, announced a plan to launch stablecoin-linked cards in over 100 countries. The partnership will allow cardholders to spend stablecoins directly with merchants and withdraw local fiat currency from ATMs. The expansion underscores the accelerating race between major networks to build out infrastructure for programmable money.
This move builds on a partnership first unveiled in 2025, which initially focused on Central and South American countries. The program is already live in 18 countries, enabling users of crypto wallets like MetaMask and Phantom to spend their stablecoin balances at any of Visa's 175 million-plus merchant locations. The expansion is powered by Bridge, a stablecoin infrastructure platform acquired by Stripe in late 2024 for $1.1 billion—the largest acquisition in Web3 history. Bridge provides the APIs that allow developers to programmatically issue these stablecoin-linked Visa cards and handle the conversion to fiat currency for merchant settlement. Through a partnership with Lead Bank, these card transactions can also be settled on-chain with Visa. This initiative arrives as the regulatory landscape for stablecoins matures significantly. The passage of the GENIUS Act in the U.S. in July 2025 created a federal framework for payment stablecoins, treating them as regulated payment instruments. Similar comprehensive regulations, like the EU's MiCA framework, are now operational in major economies, requiring licensed issuers and full reserve backing. This regulatory clarity is a key enabler for large-scale institutional adoption. Mastercard is pursuing a parallel strategy, partnering with SoFi Technologies to use its SoFiUSD stablecoin for settlement on the Mastercard network. SoFiUSD, issued by an OCC-regulated bank, has a unique structure, functioning as an insured deposit token for on-platform users. Mastercard has also established a CBDC partner program with firms like Ripple and Consensys and supports multiple stablecoins, including USDC and PYUSD, across its network. For cross-border payments, stablecoins offer a significant alternative to traditional rails like SWIFT, which can take 2-5 days to settle and involve multiple intermediary banks, each adding costs. Stablecoin transactions, by contrast, settle in minutes on a 24/7 basis with greater transparency and lower fees, which can be particularly advantageous in emerging markets with volatile local currencies or low credit card penetration. The underlying technology for identity verification is also evolving, with a shift towards decentralized, blockchain-based digital identity. These "self-sovereign identity" systems allow users to control their own credentials and share specific attributes without revealing their entire identity profile, which could streamline KYC/AML processes and reduce fraud by eliminating centralized data repositories. This innovation in digital identity is critical for securing blockchain-based financial products at scale.
