Stripe plans to expand stablecoin-backed card issuing to more than 100 countries by year-end, giving platforms a way to make digital-dollar balances spendable through familiar cards.
Key Takeaways
- Stripe plans stablecoin-backed card coverage in more than 100 countries.
- Platforms can offer cards funded by stablecoin balances to their own users.
- Merchants can continue accepting familiar card payments.
- DeFi and tokenized deposits remain future areas of exploration.
Henri Stern, Stripe’s head of stablecoins and crypto, told CoinDesk that the company expects its stablecoin card business to reach more than 100 countries by the end of 2026. The product is aimed at fintechs, marketplaces and payment platforms that want to offer cards to their own users.
Those platforms can give users a stablecoin balance and connect it to a card programme run through Stripe. A customer then pays with a card in the usual way, while Stripe and Bridge provide the infrastructure that supports the balance, card issuing and payment flow behind the purchase.
Who uses this product?
Stripe provides the infrastructure to platforms such as marketplaces, fintechs and payroll services. Those businesses decide whether to offer a stablecoin balance and card to their own users.
What this could look like: A marketplace pays a creator in a dollar stablecoin. The creator can spend from that balance through a card issued by the marketplace’s Stripe programme instead of first moving funds through an exchange and waiting for a local bank withdrawal.
At the merchant’s end, the purchase uses the card infrastructure already used for everyday transactions. That lets stablecoins fund a payment without requiring merchants to build a separate blockchain checkout flow.
Coverage matters most where moving dollars is expensive
The clearest use case comes from platforms paying freelancers, sellers or contractors across borders. In many markets, a dollar payment can involve conversion costs, delayed bank transfers or limited access to dollar accounts.
A stablecoin balance gives a platform a common way to hold and move value, while a card gives the recipient a way to spend it. Stripe’s role is to package the issuing, compliance and payment operations that would otherwise require separate relationships in every market a platform serves.
Its Issuing product page says stablecoin-backed cards can be funded from custodial or non-custodial wallets. Card availability still depends on identity checks, fraud controls, local issuing partners and the practical work of maintaining a financial product across borders.
“100 countries” is coverage, not universal access
What the country count means
The number describes where Stripe plans to make card programmes available to platforms. Local rules, identity checks, the platform’s launch schedule and the supported balance type will still determine who can receive and use a card.
Users also need to know what sits behind the balance. The relevant questions are which stablecoin is being used, who issues it, whether it can be redeemed or withdrawn, and what fees apply when it is converted or spent. Those product terms can matter far more to a user than the card’s appearance.
Stripe has already listed stablecoin-backed card issuing as a public-preview product across dozens of countries, while its wider roadmap points to further expansion. The reported 100-country plan describes the next stage of that rollout rather than a single launch that opens access everywhere at once.
Open USD adds another balance to Stripe’s payment stack
The card expansion follows Stripe’s September 30 rollout of Open USD, or OUSD, across products including Treasury, Issuing, Global Payouts, Payments and its onramp tools. Stripe says businesses can receive, hold, send and spend OUSD through those services.
Open USD’s expansion to Ethereum widened the networks on which the token can circulate. Within Stripe’s stack, OUSD gives platforms another dollar-linked balance that can be held, paid out and connected to their payment products.
Stripe has not presented OUSD as the only stablecoin available for card programmes. The rollout instead shows the company building a broader set of tools for platforms that want to receive funds, maintain a digital-dollar balance and give users a way to spend it.
Stripe is also looking beyond the card balance
The card rollout is the immediate product. Stern’s comments on DeFi and tokenized deposits point to a later question: what kinds of balances could eventually fund the same payment experience?
Those balances carry different rights and risks. A stablecoin is generally designed to track a currency and depends on its issuer and redemption arrangements. A tokenized deposit represents a claim on a commercial bank. Funds held in a DeFi lending protocol may produce a return, but they also bring smart-contract, liquidity and withdrawal risks.
Stripe’s roadmap includes future support for spending stablecoin balances held in DeFi lending protocols. That could make a card more flexible, though users and platforms would still need to understand where the balance sits and how quickly it can be accessed when a purchase is made.
The rollout needs active use to prove its value
The important evidence will come after coverage expands: which platforms launch programmes, whether users fund and keep balances on their cards, and whether those cards reduce the friction of receiving and spending cross-border payments. Those answers will show whether stablecoins are solving a practical payment problem or becoming another funding option for existing card programmes.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment or legal advice. Stablecoin availability, card eligibility and regulatory requirements vary by platform and jurisdiction.
Kosta has reported on cryptocurrency markets and blockchain infrastructure since 2020, bringing over six years of hands-on experience in the crypto industry built through daily tracking of markets, trends, and emerging blockchain developments. Specializing in Bitcoin on-chain analysis, institutional ETF flows, and digital asset price action, his work at Coindoo has been cited by other news agencies and consistently covers market developments with a focus on data-driven reporting across Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and XRP.
Over the years, Kosta has contributed to multiple crypto media outlets in different regions, authoring over 6,000 articles across the sector. His reporting spans cryptocurrency markets and the broader fintech industry, tracking not only price action but also the technological and regulatory forces shaping the ecosystem.
To support his analysis, Kosta actively leverages on-chain data and metrics from leading platforms such as Santiment, Glassnode, and CryptoQuant, enabling deeper, evidence-based market insights. He believes in the power of transparency and the data that underpins the blockchain ecosystem.
His academic background in Marketing Management from Denmark further complements his analytical approach, adding a strong understanding of communication strategy and content positioning to his work.
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