#StablecoinPayments

Credit card giant Visa announced on Wednesday the launch of a new product that will let consumers pay with stablecoins in six countries, including Mexico and Argentina. The offering, which Visa developed along with the Stripe-owned startup Bridge, is a significant step toward making cryptocurrency part of mainstream commerce for both merchants and consumers.

The launch, which Visa intends to expand to other countries, comes as stablecoins—blockchain-based assets that are pegged to a fiat currency like the dollar—are rapidly gaining popularity among traditional financial outlets because of how easily they can be transferred between accounts and across borders.

To illustrate how Visa’s new service will work in practice, senior vice president Rubail Birwadker gave the example of a freelance worker in Colombia who is paid in dollars from the U.S. or another country. In this case, the freelancer would receive wages in stablecoins and then use a Visa-branded card—either a physical one or a digital one held in a wallet like Apple Pay—to make purchases at a store or online.

Birwadker said the offering amounts to a reloadable card that, from the perspective of the merchant, is no different than any other Visa card, allowing them to be paid right away in their local currency. He added that many people in Latin America are already holding stablecoins as a hedge against volatility, and that Visa’s service will result in them becoming more widely used in day-to-day commerce.