Stripe Targets 100+ Countries for Stablecoin Cards

Stripe plans to expand its stablecoin card programs to more than 100 countries by year-end, taking digital-dollar payments into more markets through its existing payments infrastructure. Stablecoin card spending reached about $1.2 billion last month, triple the volume a year earlier, according to Paymentscan.

Henri Stern, who leads digital asset wallet infrastructure firm Privy, acquired by Stripe in 2025, has taken on an additional role overseeing stablecoins and crypto at Stripe. Current card customers include Kraken, fintech Ramp and payments app Morse.

Why it matters

Stripe is positioning stablecoins as another payment option alongside traditional currencies, not a replacement for fiat rails. Its offering combines its card-issuing business with Bridge, the stablecoin infrastructure company it bought for $1.1 billion in 2024. Stripe says it has issued more than 400 million cards and processed hundreds of billions of dollars in card volume since 2018.

That infrastructure could help companies such as Ramp extend corporate card programs into new countries without rebuilding banking and payment connections market by market. Kraken has explored letting customers spend from accounts where they already hold digital assets. Many existing programs use Circle's USDC, but Stern says Stripe intends to remain stablecoin- and blockchain-agnostic.

Market impact

Stripe's expansion adds a major payments network to a growing use case for stablecoins beyond trading and cross-border transfers. The $1.2 billion in monthly card spending remains a fraction of global card payments, but its year-over-year tripling points to increased use for everyday purchases.

The company is also exploring tokenized deposits, DeFi use cases and accepting more digital assets, while stablecoins remain the bulk of its work. Its broader effort includes Bridge and Privy, the payments-focused Tempo blockchain developed with Paradigm, and Open Standard's planned Open USD stablecoin.