Visa and Bridge, the stablecoin infrastructure company Stripe acquired in 2025, announced on March 3, 2026, that they will expand stablecoin-linked card issuance from 18 countries to over 100 by year-end. The expansion targets Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa, and the Middle East, and wallet developers like Phantom are already using Bridge's API to issue branded Visa debit cards that spend directly from stablecoin balances at Visa's 175 million-plus merchant locations.
From Latin America to Every Continent
The partnership first surfaced in April 2025 with a rollout across six Latin American countries: Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and Chile. Those markets made sense as proving grounds. Currency instability, high remittance volumes, and limited banking access created organic demand for dollar-denominated stablecoin spending.
Twelve more countries followed, bringing the current total to 18. The new expansion phase targets an additional 80-plus markets across four continents, which would make Bridge-powered stablecoin cards available to the majority of the world's connected population by December.
"Anyone who's building a stablecoin wallet needs to have a card connected to it if they want consumers and businesses to have that value held in the wallet spent in the real world," Cuy Sheffield, Visa's head of crypto, told Fortune.
How the Plumbing Works
The mechanics are straightforward but important. A developer (say, Phantom) integrates Bridge's single API. Their users load stablecoin balances into their wallets. When a cardholder taps at a merchant, Bridge deducts the equivalent stablecoins from the user's balance, converts them to fiat in real time, and Visa settles with the merchant in local currency like any other transaction.
The merchant never touches crypto. The user never touches fiat. Bridge handles the conversion layer in between. This is the same basic flow that existing crypto card providers use, but Bridge is packaging it as infrastructure that any wallet developer can plug into rather than operating its own consumer-facing card program.
"We think if we can move billions of dollars on chain, we can move trillions of dollars on chain," Sheffield added, framing the card product as an on-ramp to a larger Visa ambition: settling charges on blockchains instead of through traditional bank transfers.
The Settlement Pilot Changes the Back End
Beyond the consumer cards, Bridge will participate in Visa's ongoing pilot exploring on-chain stablecoin settlement. Current participants include payment processors Worldpay and Nuvei. The pilot evaluates whether merchants and acquirers can benefit from "operational efficiency gains from on-chain reconciliation and faster fund movement," according to Visa.
If stablecoin settlement scales, it compresses the multi-day clearing cycle that Visa's traditional rails rely on. Funds that currently take 24-48 hours to settle between banks could move in seconds on-chain. That is a fundamental change to the economics of payment processing, not just a crypto sidecar bolted onto existing infrastructure.
Lead Bank, a participant in the Visa stablecoin settlement pilot, is partnering with Bridge on the card-issuance side. This dual-track approach (cards on the front end, settlement on the back end) suggests Visa is building stablecoin infrastructure that runs deeper than a marketing partnership.
Where This Puts Existing Crypto Card Providers
The crypto card market already has 30-plus issuers competing for users. MetaMask launched its self-custody Mastercard across 49 US states. Mastercard hired a director of crypto flows specifically to build DeFi rails into its $9 trillion network. Providers like Crypto.com, Bybit, and RedotPay have been issuing cards for years.
Bridge's value proposition is different. It is not competing with these providers directly. It is offering them (and every other wallet in the ecosystem) a faster path to issuing their own cards. A wallet like Phantom does not need to negotiate a Visa BIN sponsorship, find an issuing bank, build a compliance stack, and manage card manufacturing. Bridge abstracts all of that into a single API call.
The risk for incumbents is that Bridge could commoditize the card-issuance layer. If every Solana wallet, every Ethereum wallet, and every multi-chain wallet can spin up a branded Visa card with a few lines of code, the competitive moat around card issuance shrinks. The differentiators shift to rewards programs, fee structures, and ecosystem integration rather than the card itself.
The Stripe Factor
Bridge is not an independent startup. Stripe acquired it in 2025, giving it access to Stripe's merchant network, compliance infrastructure, and balance sheet. Stripe also recently launched x402, a protocol for USDC payments on Base that enables AI agents to transact autonomously. Bridge's OCC national trust bank charter application, filed earlier this year, signals ambitions beyond card issuance into direct stablecoin minting under federal oversight.
Zach Abrams, Bridge's cofounder and CEO, made a revealing comment to Fortune: stablecoins could potentially displace card networks entirely through "agentic commerce," where AI agents make purchases with "incrementality and velocity" that traditional card networks cannot match. The fact that he said this while announcing a deeper Visa partnership underscores the tension: Bridge needs Visa's merchant network today, but is building toward a world where it might not.
Rain, another stablecoin card startup, recently raised $250 million at nearly a $2 billion valuation for a similar product. The capital flowing into this space suggests institutional investors see stablecoin-to-fiat card rails as a category, not a niche.
What This Means for Stablecoin Holders
For users holding USDC, USDT, or other stablecoins, the practical impact is straightforward: more wallets will offer cards, in more countries, with less friction. If you use Phantom today, you can already spend stablecoins at any Visa merchant in 18 countries. By December, that number crosses 100.
The stablecoin spending experience is converging toward a simple model: hold stable value in a wallet, tap a card, and Bridge (or a competitor) handles the conversion. The user experience starts to look identical to a traditional debit card, except the balance sits on-chain instead of in a bank account. For users in countries with volatile local currencies or limited banking access, that distinction matters enormously.
One nuance worth watching: Bridge's conversion happens at the moment of purchase. The spread between the stablecoin price and the fiat amount the merchant receives is where Bridge makes money, similar to how existing crypto cards handle the conversion layer. Until Bridge publishes its fee schedule for the expanded markets, users should compare the total cost (spread plus any card fees) against incumbents.
FAQ
How does a Bridge-powered stablecoin card work? You hold stablecoins in a participating wallet (like Phantom). When you tap the card at a merchant, Bridge converts the stablecoins to local fiat currency in real time. The merchant receives fiat through Visa's standard settlement process.
Which wallets support Bridge stablecoin cards? Phantom and MetaMask are confirmed partners. Bridge's API is open to any fintech developer, so additional wallets are expected to launch card programs as the expansion rolls out.
When will the 100-country expansion be complete? Visa and Bridge are targeting year-end 2026. The current 18 countries will expand to include markets across Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa, and the Middle East.
Does this affect existing crypto card providers? Not directly. Bridge is infrastructure, not a consumer card brand. However, by making card issuance easier for any wallet, it could increase competition in the crypto card market and pressure existing providers on fees and features.
Overview
Visa and Bridge (a Stripe company) are expanding their stablecoin-linked card program from 18 countries to over 100 by the end of 2026. The product lets wallet developers like Phantom issue branded Visa debit cards through a single API, converting stablecoin balances to local fiat at the point of sale. Bridge will also join Visa's on-chain settlement pilot alongside Worldpay and Nuvei. The expansion commoditizes card issuance infrastructure and signals that stablecoin-to-fiat spending rails are moving from niche product to global standard.
Recommended Reading
- The Real Cost of USDC Spread vs Gas
- Mastercard Is Hiring a Director of Crypto Flows to Build DeFi Rails Into Its $9 Trillion Payment Network
- Bridge Files for an OCC National Trust Bank Charter for Stablecoin Issuance Under Federal Oversight
