Visa to Pilot Stablecoin-Linked Cards in Latin America

Visa will enable customers in six Latin American countries to execute transactions in stablecoins via a pilot program it is seeking to expand, the payments giant announced on Wednesday.

Card holders in Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Chile will be able to make everyday purchases from a stablecoin balance at any merchant location that accepts Visa with the new cards, the San Francisco-based multinational said in a press release. Visa will be looking to expand the service to Europe, Asia and Africa in upcoming months, the company said. 

Fintech companies and developers will be able to issue the cards, the payments giant said. The company, which posted more than $9 billion in revenue in its most recent quarter, said that it was working with Bridge, a unit of payments services firm Stripe on the stablecoin-linked Visa cards. Visa will be looking to expand the service to Europe, Asia and Africa in upcoming months, the company said. 

The announcement comes just days after Mastercard announced a service allowing customers to spend stablecoins and reflects the rising interest in stablecoins.

“Stablecoins—once a technology confined to crypto communities—are making their way into headlines, dinner party conversations and soon, everyday transactions,” Visa said in its announcement. 

Chief Product and Strategy Officer at Visa Jack Forestell added that Visa was “focused on integrating stablecoins into Visa’s existing network and products in a frictionless and secure way.”

Decrypt reached out to Visa for additional comment. 

Stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency backed by non-volatile assets, usually U.S. dollars. The crypto’s advocates consider them the backbone of the crypto economy as traders use them to execute transactions without the involvement of traditional banks. 

Crypto users can hold such digital tokens in non-custodial mobile wallets. 

Visa added that it was focusing on Latin America “to address the growing demand for consumers and businesses to use stablecoins to store value and fund everyday purchases,” but that European, African, and Asian countries would soon have the same service. 

Visa has introduced a number of pro-crypto initiatives in recent years. 

Edited by James Rubin