Visa announced on April 30th the launch of a new product that will let consumers pay with stablecoins in six countries, including Mexico and Argentina, marking a significant step toward making cryptocurrency part of mainstream commerce.
The offering, developed with Stripe-owned startup Bridge, is also being rolled out in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Chile, with companies expecting the offerings to go live to consumers and merchants in the six Latin American countries in the next few weeks. Bridge, founded by Coinbase veterans Zach Abrams and Sean Yu in 2023, was acquired last October for $1.1 billion by payment giant Stripe.
Visa senior vice president Rubail Birwadker said the offering amounts to a reloadable card that, from the merchant's perspective, is no different than any other Visa card, allowing them to be paid right away in their local currency. Early efforts are expected to feature the stablecoin USDC, which is backed by Circle and Coinbase, but they expect to accommodate other stablecoins and various blockchains as well. Abrams highlighted this will prove especially appealing to firms in countries that lack complex fintech infrastructure. The announcement comes days after Mastercard announced a stablecoin service on Monday, reflecting rising interest in stablecoins, and Visa plans to expand the service to Europe, Asia, and Africa in upcoming months.
Sources:
1.
Jeff John Roberts
2.
Jeff John Roberts
3.
Mat Di Salvo
