Visa and Stripe-Owned Bridge Roll Out Stablecoin-Linked Cards to 100+ Countries
The post Visa and Stripe-Owned Bridge Roll Out Stablecoin-Linked Cards to 100+ Countries appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.
The program allows fintech firms and wallet providers to offer cards that let users spend stablecoin balances at any of Visa’s 175 million merchants worldwide. Visa and Bridge, the stablecoin infrastructure platform now owned by Stripe, announced a major expansion of their collaboration that will bring stablecoin-linked Visa cards to more than 100 countries across Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa and the Middle East by the end of 2026, according to an announcement posted on the Visa website today. The program, which is already live in 18 countries, allows fintech firms and wallet providers to offer cards that let users spend stablecoin balances at any of Visa’s 175 million merchant locations worldwide, the announcement said. Onchain Settlement Under the expanded partnership, Bridge’s stablecoin-funded cards will leverage Visa’s payments network while settlement can occur on-chain through a pilot involving Lead Bank, a participating issuer in Visa’s stablecoin settlement initiative. Lead Bank settles Visa’s stablecoin transactions on the Solana blockchain as part of Visa’s stablecoin settlement pilot. The pilot is evaluating whether settling card transactions with stablecoins can increase operational efficiency, improve reconciliation and give issuers more flexibility in how value moves across payment networks. “Visa is committed to meeting businesses where they operate, and increasingly, that’s onchain,” said Cuy Sheffield, Visa’s Head of Crypto. Crypto Rails for Payments Sheffield described the expanded Bridge collaboration as a step toward integrating blockchain-native currency settlement into the broader payments ecosystem while maintaining the convenience and ubiquity of Visa’s network. Stripe’s acquisition of Bridge in 2025 underpins much of the technical infrastructure for the offering, enabling developers and fintech platforms to issue stablecoin-backed Visa cards through a single API. Popular digital wallet providers such as Phantom and MetaMask are already using the solution, giving millions of users the ability to spend stablecoins for everyday purchases, the…
Filed under: News - @ March 3, 2026 2:26 pm