ADEL ALMAHFADI

#StablecoinPayments Visa has partnered with Stripe-owned Bridge to introduce stablecoin-linked Visa cards in Latin America. This initiative will allow users in Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and Chile to spend their stablecoins at any of the 150 million merchants that accept Visa. The cards function by converting the user's stablecoin balance into local fiat currency at the point of sale, ensuring merchants receive payments in their familiar currency. This eliminates the need for merchants to handle cryptocurrencies directly. Fintech developers can integrate this functionality through a single API provided by Bridge, streamlining the process of issuing these cards. This move by Visa follows a similar announcement from Mastercard just two days prior, indicating a growing trend among major payment networks to incorporate stablecoins into their services. The focus on Latin America is strategic, aiming to address the increasing demand for stablecoins in the region as a means of storing value and facilitating everyday transactions, particularly in economies dealing with high inflation and currency instability.