Global payment giant Visa is expanding its stablecoin card partnership with Bridge, the owner of Stripe, aiming to launch stablecoin-linked Visa cards in over 100 countries by year’s end. The collaboration, first piloted in six Latin American nations, is expanding to 18 countries. The program utilizes a pilot for stablecoin settlement through Lead Bank, moving away from conventional money. This follows Bridge receiving conditional approval from the OCC to organize a national trust bank for its stablecoin operations.
Visa is significantly scaling its partnership with Bridge to launch stablecoin-linked Visa cards globally. The companies plan to introduce these cards in over 100 countries across multiple continents by the end of the year.
The program initially launched in April 2025, covering Latin American markets including Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and Chile. It is now expanding to 18 countries with a roadmap for Europe, Asia, the Pacific, Africa, and the Middle East.
A key innovation is a pilot program enabling transaction settlement using stablecoins instead of traditional currency. This functionality is facilitated by Bridge’s collaboration with Lead Bank, which permits card transactions settled on-chain with Visa.
In a related development, Bridge announced it “has received OCC conditional approval to organize a federally chartered national trust bank.” This approval, noted in a February 2026 statement, would enable custody, orchestration, issuance, and reserves management for its stablecoin products under federal oversight.
The companies are also considering insuring the stablecoin assets issued and operated on the Bridge platform. This expansion occurs alongside other regulatory shifts in the crypto space, such as Turkey’s new crypto tax structure as stated in regulatory reports.
