Visa’s next stablecoin move: Stripe-owned Bridge to expand Visa cards to 100+ countries
Visa Inc is ramping up its collaboration with Stripe’s stablecoin platform, Bridge, aiming to roll out stablecoin-linked Visa cards in over 100 countries spanning Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa, and the Middle East by year’s end. These cards are already operational in 18 markets, allowing users to tap stablecoin balances at more than 175 million Visa-accepting merchants. Some transactions even settle “on-chain” via Bridge’s partner, Lead Bank, according to the companies. Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies built for price stability, usually locked to the U.S. dollar at a 1:1 ratio. Visa is offering wallets a recognizable spending method for these tokens as it experiments with blockchain settlement to see if it can accelerate money transfers under the hood.
