Visa-Bridge link-up extends the stablecoin adoption narrative

Cardholders to make purchases with stablecoin balances at merchants across several Latin American countries

article-image

hodim/Shutterstock and Adobe modified by Blockworks

share

This is a segment from the Forward Guidance newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe.


A household name is teaming up with a stablecoin platform in a bid to bring tokenized dollars into everyday life.

That would be payments giant Visa, which is now launching stablecoin-linked cards. 

What does that even mean? Essentially, fintech developers using Bridge can offer these cards to their customers, who can then make purchases at any merchant location that accepts Visa. 

Bridge deducts funds from the cardholder’s stablecoin balance and converts the balance into fiat so the merchant gets paid in their local currency. The card programs are starting in Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Chile.

Stablecoins are a roughly $230 billion market. We’ve written before about how industry watchers expect this space to multiply into the trillions of dollars in the coming years. 

Why this space is poised to grow substantially doesn’t seem too difficult a concept.

“By enabling fast, cheap, global payments, among other uses, stablecoins have become one of crypto’s most obvious killer apps,” a16z noted in a 2024 State of Crypto report.

More people than ever seem to be paying attention now, especially as tokenized money market funds — viewed by some as a sort of yield-bearing alternative to stablecoins — also gain steam.

A look at a Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee presentation (dated today) discusses stablecoins’ potential to “catalyse structural changes” across bank deposits, the Treasury market and monetary supply. 

Loading Tweet..

You might remember Bridge being in the news last October, when Stripe said it would acquire the company. The $1.1 billion deal closed in February.

Architect Partners’ Eric Risley called the deal “the most important M&A transaction to date for our industry” at the time. It offered more evidence that stablecoin-based payments have compelling benefits even to non-crypto companies, he added. 

It would seem integrating stablecoins into Visa’s existing network furthers that narrative. 


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Nillion_DeSci_Report_Template.png

Research

Nillion’s Monad Integration is poised to catalyze the next phase of DeSci’s evolution by eliminating key privacy bottlenecks. This synergy allows researchers, institutions, and DAOs to exchange sensitive data and insights securely while managing governance and payments onchain.

article-image

Celebrating the wisdom of a diamond-handed Bitcoin Legend

article-image

With the success of RWAs and stablecoins, DePINs could onboard the next wave of crypto users

article-image

Is crypto straying too far from things of value?

article-image

Firedancer and Solana ETFs look less significant than before

article-image

The newly passed House bill amplifies that strategic pivot for the Trump administration, from attempting austerity to running the economy hot

article-image

Unable to secure further funding, the game cycled through three different blockchains and at least five different game engines since 2018