Visa and Stripe hold Bridge, and they want to bring stablecoin-linked Visa cards to 18 countries and 100 more by the end of the year. They are also testing stablecoin settlement with Lead Bank.
Visa, a prominent participant in global payments, is broadening its collaboration with Bridge, a subsidiary of Stripe. This will make stablecoin-linked Visa cards available to more people around the world and allow for the testing of on-chain settlements.
According to a Tuesday release, Visa and Bridge are expanding their joint card program to 18 nations. By the end of the year, they want to cover more than 100 countries in Europe, Asia-Pacific, Africa, and the Middle East.
Source: Bridge
Stablecoin settlement moves on-chain
The initiative started in April 2025 and helped markets in Latin America, such as Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and Chile. This is the first time it has grown.
Along with the growth, the companies are also exploring stablecoin settlement through Visa’s pilot program. This lets issuers and acquirers settle transactions with stablecoins instead of currency.
This decision shows that the competition for stablecoins in the payments sector is still going on. For example, Mastercard recently enabled anyone in the US use stablecoins to pay for things via the self-custodial crypto wallet MetaMask.
Bridge’s cooperation with Lead Bank made on-chain support possible
When the card program started in 2025, Bridge handled the transactions. It took money out of the customer’s stablecoin balance and changed it into fiat, so retailers could get paid in their currency, just like with any other card transaction.
Thanks to independent commercial bank Lead Bank, the new partnership will allow settlement to happen directly in stablecoins.
Cuy Sheffield, Visa’s head of crypto, stated, “Visa is committed to meeting businesses where they operate, and more and more, that’s onchain.” He went on to say, “Working with Bridge more will give us one more way to bring the speed, transparency, and programmability of stablecoins directly into the settlement process.”
Visa is also examining its ability to manage Bridge-issued assets, which are stablecoins created and maintained through Bridge’s infrastructure platform. Bridge-issued stablecoins are different from big stablecoins like Tether’s USDt USDT$1 or Circle’s USDC USDC$1 since businesses make them using code instead of a third-party issuer.
Zach Abrams, co-founder and CEO of Bridge, said, “This expansion of our work with Visa will make it easy for businesses to use their own custom stablecoins in their card programs.”