Visa is pushing deeper into the stablecoin economy through a new partnership with WeFi, as the payments giant looks to bring blockchain-based financial services directly to consumers across parts of Europe, Asia and Latin America.
The collaboration marks an important shift in Visa’s stablecoin strategy. Until now, much of the company’s crypto-related activity has focused on back-end settlement systems used by banks, payment processors and institutional partners.
The new WeFi pilot moves those efforts closer to everyday users by exploring how self-custodied stablecoins can be used to fund ordinary card purchases while still operating within existing financial regulations.
In a joint announcement published through Chainwire, Visa said the initiative will test how onchain financial infrastructure can integrate with traditional payment experiences that consumers already use daily.
The pilot relies on WeFi’s technology stack to bridge decentralized finance systems with Visa’s global payments network, allowing digital assets held onchain to interact with regulated card infrastructure.
WeFi describes itself as an “orchestration layer” that connects decentralized finance applications with traditional payment rails. Its system is designed to support use cases including cross-border transactions, stablecoin-based savings, and card payments funded directly through onchain assets rather than conventional bank deposits.
Partnership stems from de-banking efforts
A major distinction in the model is WeFi’s focus on self-custody. Unlike many crypto-linked cards that require users to deposit funds on centralized exchanges or custodial wallets, WeFi says users can maintain control of their digital assets through self-custodied or hybrid wallet structures while still accessing regulated payment services.
The company refers to this approach internally as “de-banking,” aiming to reduce reliance on legacy banking intermediaries while preserving compliance standards required by payment networks.
According to Maksym Sakharov, Co-Founder and Group CEO of WeFi, the broader goal is to build financial systems that function more efficiently across borders without adding unnecessary friction for users. He said the partnership with Visa is intended to help scale WeFi’s onchain banking infrastructure across multiple regions as regulatory conditions allow.
The rollout is expected to happen gradually, beginning with selected countries in Europe, Asia and Latin America.
Expansion into additional jurisdictions will depend on local regulatory approvals, issuing partners and compliance frameworks. During the initial phase, the program will focus mainly on regulated fiat-backed stablecoins designed for everyday payments, while support for additional digital assets may come later.
Visa expands stablecoin strategy
The partnership represents the next stage of a much larger stablecoin strategy that has accelerated over the past two years for Visa. In April, the company announced that it had expanded its global stablecoin settlement pilot to support nine blockchain networks after adding five additional chains.
Visa said the initiative had reached an annualized stablecoin settlement run rate of roughly $7 billion, representing a sharp increase from previous quarters.
Earlier pilots primarily focused on institutional settlement use cases. Select partners were allowed to settle obligations directly with Visa using USD Coin on networks including Solana, while some cross-border payment programs enabled businesses to move stablecoins instead of relying on prefunded foreign bank accounts.
The WeFi collaboration takes those experiments further by applying stablecoin infrastructure directly to consumer financial services.
Rather than limiting blockchain usage to back-office settlement between financial institutions, the new model explores how users themselves could hold, move and spend value on blockchain networks while card providers continue handling compliance, merchant relationships and payment processing.
If successful, the pilot could signal a broader shift in how payment infrastructure evolves globally. The conversation may no longer center on whether stablecoins can integrate into mainstream finance, but instead on how quickly major payment companies and fintech firms can rebuild core banking functions using blockchain-based systems while traditional banks increasingly focus on regulation, licensing and balance-sheet management.