Visa announced a partnership with Bridge to launch stablecoin-backed cards in Latin America. This means that instead of being linked only to the dollar or euro, these cards will allow you to spend stable currencies like USDC or USDP in any purchase at more than 150 million merchants that accept Visa. This is a significant shift in the global payment strategy.
Why is this step very important?
The presence of Visa and Mastercard in the equation gives ordinary users and companies confidence that stablecoins have become part of the financial infrastructure, not just investment assets.
In Latin America, like Peru and Argentina, inflation is high and local currencies are unstable. Stablecoins will provide protection from price fluctuations and enable people to obtain a stable payment method.
Users do not need to understand blockchain or complicate themselves with complex digital wallets; they will simply use the card like any regular bank card.
After that, Mastercard partnered with Circle, Paxos, and Novi to integrate stablecoin payments globally. Everything points to one direction: stable currencies will become an integral part of our daily lives within a few years.
The UAE: The new generation of digital currency.
In the same context, the UAE has not stopped at traditional banks. They are working on launching a digital currency backed by the Emirati dirham called AE Coin, expected to launch in the last quarter of 2025. The key partners are IHC, ADQ, and First Abu Dhabi Bank under the supervision of the Central Bank of the UAE.
The project's goals are to enhance financial inclusion internally and externally, improve payment efficiency, reduce costs and time in transfers, and accelerate the digital economy and innovation in M2M solutions and artificial intelligence.
Egypt is on the right track…
Egypt has not remained silent either, but we have some differences. The digital pound (E-Pound) that the central bank is working on is a CBDC, not a stablecoin, meaning it is a fully regulated digital currency backed by the Egyptian pound. Its main goal is to enhance the efficiency of monetary policy and financial inclusion, and Egypt has set a goal to launch the digital pound before 2030, reflecting that steps are being taken cautiously and with strong regulation.
So far, there are no official regulations or partnerships with private entities to issue stablecoins backed by the Egyptian pound. Experts propose that this could support tourism and alleviate remittance burdens, but no practical steps have been taken yet.
The global direction is clear: Visa, Mastercard, and central banks like the UAE are reinforcing the idea that digital currencies and stablecoins are transforming into real financial products used daily.
Latin America is a living example of how stablecoins address inflation issues and provide consumers and businesses with a stable and fast payment method. Egypt needs to take a similar step, either by speeding up the launch of the CBDC or encouraging special stablecoin initiatives under central supervision.
Whether it's Visa in LATAM or AE Coin in the UAE, we must ensure compliance with anti-money laundering standards and also strengthen the cybersecurity of digital infrastructure.
With an infrastructure supporting digital payments, new solutions in decentralized finance (DeFi), the Internet of Things (IoT), and the tourism sector will emerge, especially since Egypt is a prime tourist destination.
