Visa and Bridge to expand stablecoin-linked cards to from 18 to 100+ countries

Visa and Bridge first unveiled their partnership in 2025. Since then, Bridge has powered Visa stablecoin cards in more than 18 countries via its partner bank, Lead Bank, who has a Principal Membership with Visa. Now, the two are scaling the program globally.

Source: Visa Press

➡️ Why this matters

Stablecoin-linked card payments is one of the clearest ways where stablecoin utility is crossing into the real world. And this crossing is KEY to stablecoin's adoption penetration. The more stablecoins are accepted, the more they are becoming like digital cash.

Visa is the perfect payment network for stablecoins to be connected to given its 150M merchants.

For Visa, this is structurally attractive. Every transaction flows through its network economics stack: assessment fees, interchange flows, and scheme revenues. More details here: https://lnkd.in/e8eQqgpJ

For Bridge, the economics are equally meaningful. Acting as a program manager means owning the technical, compliance, and regulatory orchestration layer that converts stablecoins into spendable fiat at the point of sale. That position sits at the monetization chokepoint between wallets, issuers, and the card network.

Stablecoin card payment volume is already up 1,500% since 2023 to reach $18B annualized run rate. Expanding from 18 to 100+ countries materially increases addressable volume and merchant penetration.

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