Visa expands stablecoin settlement across CEMEA. Partners Yellow Card

Visa has announced an expansion of its stablecoin initiatives, extending settlement capabilities across the Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa (CEMEA) region while forming a strategic partnership with pan-African stablecoin orchestrator Yellow Card. The developments represent Visa’s continued push to integrate blockchain technology into traditional payment infrastructure, as stablecoins gain traction as tools for faster and more accessible digital payments across emerging markets.

“In 2025, we believe that every institution that moves money will need a stablecoin strategy,” said Godfrey Sullivan, Visa’s SVP and head of product and solution for CEMEA.  Visa is extending its stablecoin settlement solution to select issuers and acquirers across CEMEA, enabling US dollar cross border transactions through blockchain technology. The initiative aims to reduce settlement costs, improve liquidity management, and support settlement 24/7/365.

Since becoming one of the first major payments networks to settle transactions in stablecoins through a 2023 pilot program, Visa has processed over $225 million in stablecoin volume across participating clients using USDC. 

Its first client was Crypto.com which allowed its exchange users to spend crypto via Visa cards, with the amount spent converted to USDC. But the crypto exchange had to convert USDC to fiat cy in order to settle with Visa, whereas now it can pay directly with USDC. In September 2023 Visa extended the service from card issuers to merchant acquirers, such as Worldpay and Nuvei, enabling them and merchants to receive payouts in USDC.

The partnership with Yellow Card will explore stablecoin use cases across markets where the African fintech is licensed to operate, focusing on streamlining treasury operations and enhancing liquidity management. “Together with Visa, we’re building a bridge between traditional finance and the future of money movement,” said Chris Maurice, co-founder and CEO of Yellow Card. “We look forward to continuing to innovate new solutions that can transform how money moves for even more secure, efficient, and transparent payment solutions.”

The initiatives build on Visa’s broader digital cy strategy. Last year it launched the Visa Tokenized Asset Platform (VTAP) to support stablecoins and tokenized deposits with BBVA planning to use it to pilot an Ethereum stablecoin. The card company also recently invested in B2B stablecoin payments firm BVNK.