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.
Mastercard and Visa are extending stablecoin technology into the systems that settle card payments between financial institutions, while leaving the consumer checkout experience largely unchanged. Mastercard completed its acquisition of stablecoin infrastructure provider BVNK in August 2026 and has expanded its network’s settlement options to include regulated stablecoins. Visa, meanwhile, is working with Stripe-owned Bridge and Lead Bank on on-chain settlement for card programs. The shift became more concrete in September, when SoFi Bank moved its credit and debit card issuing portfolio to live settlement using its bank-issued SoFiUSD. That portfolio represents more than $25 billion in annualized card volume, a measure distinct from the value settled in stablecoins. Visa separately reported an annualized stablecoin settlement run rate exceeding $25 billion in October. The networks’ initiatives target the back-end movement and reconciliation of funds, including periods when traditional bank settlement rails are unavailable; they do not require merchants to accept cryptocurrency.
The European Central Bank has launched Pontes, a bridge connecting tokenised-asset platforms to the Eurosystem’s TARGET Services for wholesale settlement in central bank money. The arrangement enables atomic delivery-versus-payment settlement, in which an asset and its payment move together. It does not yet make wholesale settlement available around the clock: Pontes depends on T2 operating hours and requires tokenised central bank money balances to be defunded at the end of the day. ECB Executive Board member Piero Cipollone says the Eurosystem plans to extend Pontes operating hours substantially by mid-2027 and reach 24/7/365 availability in 2028. Separately, the Bank for International Settlements’ Project Agorá has tested cross-border payments using a shared programmable ledger that brings tokenised commercial bank deposits and central bank reserves into a single settlement process. Both initiatives address delays and liquidity demands in wholesale payments, but neither makes continuous, cross-border settlement available today.
Project Agorá’s real-value testing settled 30 live, multi-currency transactions worth approximately CHF 800,000, with atomic settlement averaging about 80 seconds. The tests involved 28 commercial institutions and five central banks. The result shows how tokenised commercial bank deposits and central bank reserves could support faster cross-border settlement, though it does not establish that settlement latency has been eliminated. The project’s prototype found that tokenisation did not change the legal character or regulatory obligations of deposits and reserves. Its design also let participating institutions conduct compliance checks concurrently. Seven more commercial banks joined in September 2026, taking private-sector participation to nearly 50 institutions. At Sibos in October, banking executives described the testing pipeline as a step towards production trials alongside the European Central Bank’s Pontes platform. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York did not participate in the live test transactions, an important qualification for the US dollar tests.
Ripple’s final federal trust bank charter, a Moody’s investment-grade rating for RLUSD and a planned expansion of the stablecoin’s availability on Coinbase have strengthened its position as a regulated digital dollar. Coinbase said Global Exchange access, including eligibility to use RLUSD as trading collateral, will follow its initial retail and prime rollout. Moody’s assigned RLUSD an A2 long-term deposit rating and a P-1 short-term rating, the first investment-grade rating it has given a stablecoin. The distinctions behind those developments matter. Ripple National Trust Bank manages RLUSD’s reserve collateral, but the legal issuer remains Standard Custody & Trust Company, a New York-regulated Ripple subsidiary. The national trust bank is uninsured and cannot take commercial retail deposits or extend credit. Moody’s also noted that holders do not currently own the underlying reserves directly and that statutory bankruptcy protections depend on implementation of the GENIUS Act, whose rules take effect in January 2027.
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.