Global payment giant Visa is significantly expanding its partnership with Stripe-owned bridge to roll out stablecoin-linked Visa cards worldwide. The collaboration, which now includes an onchain settlement pilot, will initially expand to 18 countries with plans to reach over 100 by year’s end, highlighting the growing competition in stablecoin payments.
Visa and Bridge are expanding their joint card program to 18 countries, with plans to reach more than 100 across Europe, Asia-Pacific, Africa and the Middle East by the end of the year, according to a Tuesday announcement. This expansion follows the program’s initial launch in April 2025, which first supported markets in Latin America.
The companies are also testing stablecoin settlement through Visa’s pilot program, enabling issuers and acquirers to settle transactions using stablecoins rather than fiat. This move highlights the ongoing stablecoin race, with Mastercard recently enabling stablecoin card spending in the US via MetaMask.
When the card program launched, transactions involved converting customer stablecoin balances to fiat for merchant settlement. Under the new collaboration, enabled by independent commercial bank Lead Bank, settlement is now set to occur directly in stablecoins. “Now, through Bridge’s partnership with Lead Bank, these card transactions can be settled onchain with Visa,” the announcement noted.
“Visa is committed to meeting businesses where they operate, and increasingly, that’s onchain,” Visa’s head of crypto, Cuy Sheffield said. The company is also evaluating potential support for Bridge-issued assets, or stablecoins created programmatically by businesses using Bridge’s platform. “This expansion of our work with Visa will enable businesses launching their own custom stablecoins to use them seamlessly within their card programs,” Bridge co-founder and CEO Zach Abrams stated.
