Visa is upping it game in the stablecoin market, expanding its settlement capabilities in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (CEMEA) region to enable USD cross-border transactions through blockchain technology.
Stablecoin adoption is exploding, with $27 trillion in total transaction volume globally across 1.25 billion transactions in 2024, according to Visa analysis.
Visa says the new initiative will help reduce settlement costs, enhance liquidity management, and support 365-day settlements, including weekends and holidays.
The card scheme has been slowly building itts business in the nascent market. In 2023, Visa became one of the first major payments networks to settle transactions in stablecoin when it piloted enabling clients to fulfill their settlement obligations in USDC. To date, over $225 million in stablecoin volume has been settled through Visa across participating clients.
Visa has since stepped up its investment in the market, taking a stake in stablecoin infrastructure platform BVNK and undertaking a partnership with Stripe-owned Bridge to help bring stablecoin-linked cards to more people in more places.
The new issuing product will help fintech developers using Bridge offer stablecoin-linked Visa cards to their end customers in multiple countries through a single API integration. These cardholders will then be able to make everyday purchases from a stablecoin balance at any merchant location that accepts Visa.
Godfrey Sullivan, Visa SVP and head of product and solution for CEMEA, comments: “In 2025, we believe that every institution that moves money will need a stablecoin strategy. As more players in the payments ecosystem explore this powerful new technology, Visa stands ready to help our partners navigate the transformation, bringing the scale, trust and innovation needed to help build the next generation of global payments.”
With momentum building, Visa has announced a partnership with pan-African fintech Yellow Card to explore stablecoin use cases and opportunities across markets where Yellow Card is licensed to operate to help streamline treasury operations and enhance liquidity management. The partnership is intended to test integration opportunities with Visa Direct to further investigate and expand cross-border payment options.
Chris Maurice, co-founder and CEO of Yellow Card, says: “Together with Visa, we’re building a bridge between traditional finance and the future of money movement. We look forward to continuing to innovate new solutions that can transform how money moves for even more secure, efficient, and transparent payment solutions.”