Stripe's Bridge and Visa Set Sights on Global Stablecoin Card Rollout Across 100+ Nations
In a phased approach, Bridge, now under Stripe ownership, and Visa target bringing stablecoin-connected Visa cards to 18 nations initially, with ambitions to exceed 100 markets before year-end, alongside trials of stablecoin-based settlement via Lead Bank.
Payment processing behemoth Visa is broadening its collaboration with Bridge, a company acquired by Stripe, to extend the availability of Visa cards linked to stablecoins on a global scale while simultaneously trialing settlement mechanisms that operate onchain.
Bridge and Visa are widening their collaborative card initiative to encompass 18 nations, with intentions to surpass 100 territories spanning Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, Africa and the Middle East before the year concludes, a Tuesday announcement revealed.
This broadened reach comes after the program made its debut in April 2025, initially providing support to markets throughout Latin America, such as Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Chile.
Beyond geographic expansion, both companies are engaged in testing settlement using stablecoins through Visa's experimental pilot initiative, which permits issuers and acquirers to complete transactions with stablecoins instead of traditional fiat currencies.
This development underscores the intensifying competition surrounding stablecoins within the payments sector, particularly as Mastercard has recently facilitated stablecoin-based card expenditures in the United States through integration with MetaMask, a self-custodial cryptocurrency wallet.
Onchain support enabled through Bridge's partnership with Lead Bank
At the time of the card program's 2025 launch, Bridge handled transaction processing by withdrawing funds from customers' stablecoin holdings and transforming them into fiat currency, which enabled merchants to obtain payments in their local currency just like standard card purchases.
With the newly announced collaboration, facilitated through a partnership with Lead Bank, an independent commercial banking institution, settlement processes are now configured to execute directly using stablecoins.
"Through Bridge's partnership with Lead Bank, these card transactions can now be settled onchain with Visa," the announcement states.
"Visa is committed to meeting businesses where they operate, and increasingly, that's onchain. Expanding our work with Bridge gives us one more way to bring the speed, transparency and programmability of stablecoins directly into the settlement process."
Cuy Sheffield, Visa's head of crypto
Furthermore, Visa is assessing the possibility of supporting stablecoins issued by Bridge, which are digital assets developed and administered through Bridge's infrastructure platform. In contrast to prominent stablecoins like Tether's USDt (USDT) or Circle's USDC (USDC), stablecoins issued through Bridge are generated programmatically by individual businesses instead of being created by a third-party issuing entity.
"This expansion of our work with Visa will enable businesses launching their own custom stablecoins to use them seamlessly within their card programs."
Zach Abrams, Bridge co-founder and CEO