Stripe and Visa Scale Stablecoin Cards
Stripe and Visa are taking their Bridge stablecoin-backed card partnership global, expanding to over 100 countries. The move places Stripe directly at the center of crypto adoption and global payments, signaling a major push to blend traditional payment rails with digital currency infrastructure.
This global rollout builds on the initial launch in April 2025, which targeted 18 countries primarily in Latin America, including Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and Chile. The expansion will bring the stablecoin-backed cards to Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa, and the Middle East by the end of 2026. This initiative is designed to meet the growing demand in regions like Latin America for using stablecoins as a hedge against local currency inflation and for everyday transactions. The underlying technology is powered by Bridge, a stablecoin infrastructure platform that Stripe acquired in October 2024 for a reported $1.1 billion. Bridge's platform enables users to spend from their stablecoin balances held in self-custody wallets like MetaMask and Phantom at over 175 million merchant locations that accept Visa. This allows for a direct link between a user's crypto holdings and real-world spending without the user needing to manually off-ramp their funds. A key technical aspect of this partnership is the move towards on-chain settlement. Through a collaboration with Lead Bank, a participant in Visa's stablecoin settlement pilot, card transactions can be settled directly in stablecoins on the blockchain. This is a shift from the initial model where Bridge would convert the stablecoin to fiat at the point of sale for the merchant. This on-chain settlement is intended to improve the speed and efficiency of cross-border transactions. This partnership is part of a larger strategic push into digital assets by both companies. Stripe is co-developing a payments-focused blockchain called Tempo with the investment firm Paradigm, with Visa participating in the testnet. Cuy Sheffield, Visa's Head of Crypto, has stated that Visa is "committed to meeting businesses where they operate, and increasingly, that's onchain." Visa is also exploring support for custom stablecoins issued through Bridge's platform, which would allow businesses to create their own branded stablecoins for their card programs. The competitive landscape for crypto-backed cards is heating up, with major players like Mastercard also making significant moves. Mastercard has partnered with companies like MetaMask to enable stablecoin card spending in the US. While the Bridge-powered Visa card emphasizes direct spending from self-custody wallets, other offerings in the market, such as those from Crypto.com and Binance, often come with tiered rewards programs that require staking the platform's native token. The expansion is occurring in a market that has seen substantial growth in stablecoin transaction volume, which reached $33 trillion in 2025, with USDC accounting for $17.3 trillion of that amount. In February, Bridge also received conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for a national bank charter, which will allow it to custody crypto, issue stablecoins, and manage reserves, further solidifying its role in the financial infrastructure.
