StraitsX and Visa Expand Stablecoin Card Issuing Framework to Over 100 Markets
Oct. 20, 2026 • Article • Digital Assets
StraitsX and Visa are expanding their stablecoin-backed card issuing partnership to more than 100 markets. The framework is designed for fintechs, digital wallet providers and Digital Payment Token service providers that want cardholders to spend from stablecoin balances. Merchants would receive payments through traditional card rails, without needing to accept cryptocurrency. Eligible programs will have access to Visa’s network of more than 175 million merchant locations.
StraitsX recorded more than US$6 billion in annualized card gross transaction value across its Asian stablecoin-backed card programs before the planned expansion. The framework includes transaction monitoring and screening tools aimed at anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism risks. No market-by-market launch schedule or launch clients have been announced. Live deployments will depend on regulatory approvals in each jurisdiction and Visa network certification, so the partnership’s geographic scope should not be read as immediate card availability in every market.
StraitsX and Visa are expanding their stablecoin-backed card issuing partnership to more than 100 markets, giving fintechs and digital asset service providers a framework for cards that draw on stablecoin balances. The arrangement is intended to connect those balances to Visa’s established payment network: cardholders can pay merchants through conventional card rails, without requiring the merchants to accept cryptocurrency.
The expansion follows StraitsX’s experience running stablecoin-backed card programs in Asia. Those programs had recorded more than US$6 billion in annualized card gross transaction value before the partnership broadened its scope. But the wider framework is not an announcement that cards are live in every market it covers. Individual deployments remain subject to local regulatory approvals and Visa network certification, and neither a market-by-market rollout timetable nor launch clients have been named.
How the card framework works
The model is aimed at fintechs, digital wallet providers and Digital Payment Token (DPT) service providers seeking to issue Visa cards linked to stablecoin balances. DPT service providers are businesses that offer services involving digital payment tokens. Under the proposed card model, a customer’s transaction draws from a stablecoin balance, while the merchant receives payment through traditional payment rails.
That distinction matters for the businesses on both sides of a transaction. A card program can give its users a way to spend a digital asset balance in everyday payment settings. The merchant, meanwhile, does not need to build a process for receiving cryptocurrency. The arrangement places the conversion between stablecoin-linked spending and conventional card acceptance within the issuing and payments infrastructure, rather than at the merchant checkout.
Programs deployed through the partnership will have access to Visa’s acceptance network of more than 175 million merchant locations across over 100 markets. That network figure describes where Visa payments can be accepted; it does not establish that a StraitsX-backed program has obtained approval, completed certification or launched in each location. Availability for any individual card program will depend on the requirements that apply to it.
From Asian card programs to a broader framework
StraitsX had already established card issuance and bank identification number (BIN) sponsorship capabilities in the Asia-Pacific region through work with crypto platforms including OKX and RedotPay. BIN sponsorship is an issuing arrangement that supports a card program’s access to a payment network. That regional experience provides the context for the broader partnership, but it should not be confused with a list of clients for the expanded offering; no launch clients have been named.
StraitsX operates under a Major Payment Institution licence granted by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. It also issues XSGD, a Singapore dollar-pegged stablecoin, and XUSD, a US dollar-pegged stablecoin, which are used in digital treasury and settlement flows. A stablecoin is designed to track the value of another asset or currency; in this case, the two products are pegged to their respective national currencies. Those activities form part of StraitsX’s existing payments and digital asset operations, although the available details do not specify which stablecoins any future card programs in new markets will use.
The reported annualized card gross transaction value provides a measure of activity across StraitsX’s Asian stablecoin-backed programs before the global expansion. It is a transaction-volume figure, not a forecast for cards issued under the wider framework or a measure of revenue. The partnership’s next test is whether that operating model can be deployed under the rules and network requirements of additional jurisdictions.
Compliance and the pace of deployment
The integrated issuing framework includes transaction monitoring and screening tools designed to address anti-money laundering (AML) and countering the financing of terrorism (CFT) risks. Such controls are particularly relevant to an arrangement that links digital asset balances with card payments, because an issuing program must account for the compliance obligations attached to its transactions. The presence of tools in the framework does not, by itself, confer permission to operate in a market.
Following the mid-October 2026 announcement, industry reporting clarified that StraitsX had not provided an immediate country-by-country rollout schedule. Regulatory approval must be assessed jurisdiction by jurisdiction, and live card programs also need Visa network certification. Those conditions leave the timing and initial markets for deployment open.
For prospective issuers, the partnership offers a route to build stablecoin-funded card programs around an existing acceptance network. For merchants, its central feature is continuity: they can receive card payments without introducing crypto acceptance. The practical reach of the expansion, however, will be determined by which programs secure the necessary approvals and certifications, rather than by the number of markets in the framework alone.
Ramp partnered with Stripe and Bridge in July 2026 to deploy stablecoin rails for business bill payments and yield-bearing stablecoin accounts funded through standard fiat bank accounts. The arrangement shows how stablecoins can be incorporated into familiar payment workflows without requiring businesses to fund every transaction with digital assets. The economics depend on more than the cost of moving a token on-chain. Stripe charges merchants 1.5% for stablecoin checkout transactions, versus its standard card-processing fee of 2.9% plus $0.30; neither figure establishes the price of Ramp’s bill-payment service. Businesses receiving fiat may also face foreign-exchange and off-ramp costs, typically 0.3% to 2.0% when converting into local banking systems. Domestic clearing networks and compliance checks remain part of end-to-end delivery. Bridge’s issuance and transfer tools, alongside its conditional U.S. trust-bank approval, illustrate the infrastructure behind those payments—but not the elimination of every payment cost.
StraitsX has opened onboarding for digital payment token providers across more than 100 markets through an expanded card-issuing architecture developed with Visa. Integration documentation published on 26 October 2026 describes a multi-BIN model that combines issuing sponsorship, transaction authorization, compliance screening and fiat clearing. The approach lets participating providers build stablecoin-backed card products while merchants continue to receive conventional fiat payments through Visa’s network. StraitsX says its card gross transaction value rose 40-fold year on year from Q4 2024 to Q4 2025, while cards issued across Asia increased 83-fold. On-chain issuer telemetry recorded monthly card transaction volume of $310 million to $438 million through October 2026. The company’s stated $6 billion annualized card transaction figure is distinct from its cumulative $70 billion in processed stablecoin volume. StraitsX and Visa have also scheduled demonstrations of agentic payments for November 2026.
ACI Worldwide and Circle announced a pilot on October 27, 2026, involving USDC and connectivity to Colombia’s Bre-B instant payments system. The integration runs through ACI Connetic, a payments orchestration platform, rather than embedding USDC in Bre-B’s central infrastructure. There is no indication that Colombia’s central bank has adopted USDC as a settlement asset for the national network. The distinction matters because ACI also supplies technology for Bre-B’s central directory and real-time clearing engine. Bre-B launched in October 2025 and handled more than 500 million transactions within five months. Connetic is designed to bring traditional payment rails and digital asset networks together without requiring banks to replace legacy core ledgers. ACI says the platform can support other digital assets and liquidity providers, so the pilot does not make USDC its exclusive option. The arrangement tests a vendor-level connection alongside an established public payment system, not a change to that system’s settlement rules.
Ripple received final approval on 26 October 2026 for Ripple National Trust Bank, giving it a federally chartered institution for fiduciary and custody activities. The charter does not authorize commercial deposits or loans, and it does not transfer issuance of Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin to the new bank. RLUSD issuance remains with Standard Custody & Trust Company under New York State Department of Financial Services supervision. BNY is the primary custodian of the dollar deposits and U.S. Treasury reserves backing the stablecoin. The arrangement separates a federal custody role from state-supervised issuance. It also comes as the OCC implements the GENIUS Act’s stablecoin rules and faces a lawsuit from the Independent Community Bankers of America challenging its authority to grant national trust charters to crypto firms. Ripple has separately announced an expanded partnership with BNY and Robinhood focused on institutional custody capabilities and exploring tokenized trade finance.
Stripe confirmed in October 2026 that it plans to expand its Bridge- and Visa-powered stablecoin card issuing program from 18 initial countries to more than 100 by the end of the year. The planned rollout spans Europe, Asia-Pacific, Africa and the Middle East. It follows Stripe’s February 2025 acquisition of Bridge, whose APIs connect stablecoin transfers with fiat accounts and bank payouts. Stripe has also made Open USD available to businesses in Stripe Financial Accounts alongside USDC. Its broader stablecoin infrastructure combines Bridge’s conversion tools with Stripe’s existing payment and treasury network and embedded wallets from Privy. Lead Bank supports the card program as a financial institution partner and BIN sponsor. A separate deployment by Ramp uses Bridge APIs and Privy wallets to let businesses pay vendors in stablecoins using funds from fiat bank accounts. Together, the developments show how Stripe is assembling stablecoin services for business payments, while the planned geographic expansion remains unfinished.
Project Agorá settled approximately CHF 800,000 in live, multi-currency transactions during a July 2026 testing phase. The work examined a cross-border payment model that places tokenised commercial bank deposits on a shared ledger while holding tokenised central bank reserves on jurisdictional ledgers. Five central banks participated directly in live-reserve settlement, although the project’s wider central-bank group has since expanded to eight with the Bank of Canada’s entry. The project reports an average settlement time of 80 seconds across six currencies and uses smart contracts to run anti-money laundering, sanctions and fraud checks simultaneously. Legal analyses found that tokenisation did not change the underlying character of deposits or reserves in participating jurisdictions. The findings support further work on deposit-based wholesale settlement, but the supplied research does not establish that the approach outperforms stablecoins. The Eurosystem plans to draw on Agorá’s architecture for Projects Pontes and Appia.