Global payments giant Visa is expanding its stablecoin card partnership with Stripe’s Bridge, expanding the distribution of stablecoin-linked Visa cards globally and testing onchain settlements.
Visa and Bridge are expanding their joint card program to 18 countries and plan to reach more than 100 across Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa and the Middle East by the end of the year, according to an announcement Tuesday.
The expansion follows the initial launch of the program in April 2025, which for the first time supported Latin American markets, including Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Chile.
In addition to the expansion, the companies are testing stablecoin settlements through Visa’s pilot program, allowing issuers and acquirers to complete transactions using stablecoins rather than fiat.
The move points to stablecoin’s ongoing race in the payments industry, with Mastercard recently allowing stablecoin card spending in the US through its self-proclaimed crypto wallet MetaMask.
Onchain support is made possible through Bridge’s partnership with Lead Bank
When the card program launched in 2025, transactions were processed by the Bridge, funds were deducted from the customer’s stablecoin balance and converted to fiat, allowing merchants to pay in local currency just like any other card transaction.
As part of a new partnership made possible by the independent commercial bank Lead Bank, settlements are now made directly in stablecoins.
“Now through Bridge’s partnership with Lead Bank, these card transactions can be processed through Visa,” the announcement said.
“Visa is committed to meeting the businesses they serve, and that’s more than ever on-chain,” said Visa’s head of crypto, Coy Sheffield. “Expanding our work with Bridge gives us another way to bring the speed, transparency and programmability of stablecoins directly into the settlement process,” he said.
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Additionally, Visa is evaluating potential support for Bridge-issued assets or stablecoins that are created and managed using Bridge’s infrastructure platform. Unlike mainstream stablecoins like Tether’s USDt (USDT) or Circle’s USDC (USDC), Bridge-issued stablecoins are programmatically created by businesses, not a third-party issuer.
“This expansion of our work with Visa allows merchants to launch their own custom stablecoins to use seamlessly in their card applications,” said Bridge co-founder and CEO Zach Abrams.
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