Stripe plans stablecoin cards in more than 100 countries by year-end
Stripe's stablecoin cards are going global
Payments company Stripe plans to offer its stablecoin card programs in more than 100 countries by the end of the year. A stablecoin is a digital currency designed to hold a steady value, usually by tracking a traditional currency such as the U.S. dollar.
CoinDesk reported the plan from Henri Stern, the co-founder and CEO of Privy, a digital asset wallet infrastructure company that Stripe acquired last year. Stern also told CoinDesk that he has taken on an additional job overseeing stablecoins and crypto across Stripe. Stripe confirmed his new role to CoinDesk.
Existing customers of the card programs include crypto exchange Kraken, fintech company Ramp and payments app Morse.
The numbers behind the push
- Target: more than 100 countries by the end of 2026.
- About $1.2 billion of stablecoins were spent through cards last month, according to PaymentScan.
- That monthly figure was about three times the amount recorded a year earlier.
- Stripe has issued more than 400 million cards and processed hundreds of billions of dollars in card volume since 2018, according to Stern.
- Stripe paid $1.1 billion for Bridge, a stablecoin infrastructure company, in 2024.
Why the cards are still a small slice
CoinDesk compared the card figure with the much larger global card payments market and noted that stablecoin card spending is still a small part of it. Even so, the report said the growth points to stablecoins being used more often for everyday purchases, not only for crypto trading and moving money across borders.
The wider stablecoin market was described in the report as worth more than $300 billion.
How Stripe fits the cards into what it already does
Stern told CoinDesk that Stripe's plan is to plug stablecoins into the payment infrastructure it already runs. The company's stablecoin offer ties its card issuing business to Bridge, the stablecoin infrastructure firm it bought for $1.1 billion in 2024.
The report used two examples of how businesses might use the product. Ramp could take a corporate card into new countries using stablecoins, instead of setting up banking and payment connections one market at a time. Kraken has looked at letting customers spend from accounts where they already hold digital assets.
A wider blockchain plan
CoinDesk described the card expansion as part of a longer build-up. Alongside the Bridge and Privy acquisitions, Stripe partnered with crypto investment firm Paradigm to work on Tempo, and CoinDesk linked to earlier reporting in which Stripe aimed to become infrastructure for money on blockchains. A blockchain is a shared database that records transactions across a network of computers.
Stern described the company's stance in the interview as stablecoins working alongside traditional currencies as a payments option, rather than replacing them.
What is still open
Some details are not yet settled. CoinDesk did not name which countries are in the expansion, how many cards the programs would add, or how much Stripe has invested in the rollout. The report also said Stripe is exploring tokenized deposits and decentralized finance use cases, but did not give a timeline for either. Tokenized deposits and decentralized finance were described only as areas the company is looking at.
Sources
Newisty Editorial Team covers technology, cryptocurrency, digital products, online platforms, developer tools and the wider digital economy. Our content is researched from official sources, company announcements, public documentation, market data and other primary or reputable sources. Articles are reviewed and edited before publication for clarity, accuracy and useful context.