This week's batch of partnership announcements is about money moving without the wait: RLUSD settling funding outside banking hours, a Bulgarian bank folding crypto into its mobile app, stablecoin-linked cards reaching everyday spending in Mexico and beyond, and wallet infrastructure designed for AI agents. Less spectacle, more infrastructure closing the gap between crypto and traditional finance.

Ripple and DriveWealth Make RLUSD the Settlement Asset for Brokerage Funding

Ripple and DriveWealth announced on October 14 a package covering settlement, payments and custody for DriveWealth's investing infrastructure, with Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin on the XRP Ledger serving as the settlement asset. Clients funding collateral accounts would be able to swap stablecoin deposits into cash in near real time rather than waiting on an international wire, and DriveWealth also plans to take in cross-border funds from its partners through Ripple Payments.

European operations go first, with the US following. DriveWealth supplies brokerage infrastructure to more than 100 partners, including fintechs, wallets and financial institutions that want to offer US market access.

The companies frame the arrangement around a timing mismatch: US equities settle one business day after trading, but cross-border dollar transfers can take longer, which ties up capital. DriveWealth CEO Naureen Hassan said the firm already offers 24/5 trading and wants funding to keep pace, so customers' money isn't "sitting idle overnight or over a weekend." Later phases would add treasury and custody features, letting clients see dollar, stablecoin and crypto balances in real time.

It has been a busy stretch for RLUSD more broadly. On October 12, Standard Chartered began offering RLUSD custody through its Dubai branch, and the bank is working with Ripple and LMAX Group on letting clients post RLUSD as trading collateral while it stays in custody, pending testing, legal paperwork and approvals.

Fibank Becomes Bulgaria's First Bank to Offer Crypto Through Bitpanda

Fibank has signed a partnership with Bitpanda that lets customers of its My Fibank mobile app access crypto services from inside the banking app, a first for a Bulgarian bank. Bitpanda, the Austria-based and fully licensed crypto provider, runs the services behind the scenes, and customers who apply and are accepted can use them around the clock, with a minimum investment of just €1.

The bank is upfront about the caveats. These assets are not deposits or traditional financial instruments, so no guarantees or compensation schemes apply, and Fibank is urging customers to read up on the risks before proceeding. Access also depends on Bitpanda approving each applicant under its own terms.

Fibank CEO Nikola Bakalov called the tie-up a natural next step in turning My Fibank into a broader digital platform, and said it mattered that the offering comes alongside "an established European technology partner" operating within regulatory requirements. Nadeem Ladki, who heads Bitpanda Enterprise, said digital assets are moving into mainstream finance with banks at the center, and that the Bulgarian rollout brings crypto to more than a million customers through "a banking experience they already know and trust."

Crypto offerings from banks remain thin across Bulgaria and the surrounding region, which is why Fibank is positioning itself as part of the vanguard of EU lenders offering such services directly through their own digital channels.

Gate Teams Up With Visa on a Crypto-Linked Card Across 40+ Markets

Crypto cards keep multiplying, and Visa has numbers to back it up: more than 160 stablecoin-linked card programs are live globally, with payment volume up nearly 200% year over year. Gate is the newest participant, with a crypto-linked Visa card expected to roll out in over 40 countries and territories.

Spending in-store or online converts the crypto in a customer's Gate account to fiat at the point of sale, with application and card management handled in the Gate app. Supported markets and eligibility are listed on the product page.

Visa contributes acceptance at more than 175 million merchant locations across over 200 countries and territories. Gate brings more than 61 million users, over 5,300 crypto assets and a growing menu of stock and traditional-finance products, plus a new app called Gate Money that puts crypto, fiat, stocks, gold and bank accounts under one roof.

Gate's founder and CEO, Dr. Han, said digital assets are "gradually becoming part of everyday financial life" and that the card should make paying with them feel more natural. Visa's Nischint Sanghavi, who leads digital currencies for Asia-Pacific, said consumers want payment methods that are "flexible, convenient, and widely accepted," and that Visa wants to connect new forms of value to existing payments infrastructure.

SoFi Tech Solutions, Orbi and Mastercard Launch a Crypto-Linked Card in Mexico

SoFi Tech Solutions, the business formerly known as Galileo, has partnered with Mexican fintech Orbi and Mastercard on a crypto-linked card program for Orbi customers in Mexico. People can pay from either a regular fiat balance or their crypto holdings, with conversion happening at the moment of purchase, so merchants still receive fiat.

Physical and virtual cards are both planned, and SoFi's link to Mastercard's Mexican domestic network, MxDS, supports purchases and ATM withdrawals.

SoFi Tech Solutions handles the backend work: BIN sponsorship, issuing, transaction authorization, processing and compliance, with SoFi's SoFiUSD stablecoin also part of the mix. The backdrop is a shift in how people across Latin America use crypto. At Bitso, stablecoins made up 40% of crypto purchases in 2025, versus 18% for bitcoin — the first time stablecoins overtook it in the exchange's regional data.

Kathleen Pierce-Gilmore, who leads SoFi Tech Solutions, noted that Mexico is among the world's largest remittance markets and that the card gives people "a trusted way to receive, hold and spend digital dollars." Orbi co-founder Leonardo Perez said the relationship with SoFi and Mastercard has deepened since the early days, and Mastercard's Silvana Hernández framed the goal as making digital assets as easy and trusted to use as traditional payments.

Privy Brings Its Wallets to the XRP Ledger Through a Ripple Partnership

Privy, the wallet provider Stripe agreed to acquire last year, is extending its wallet tools to the XRP Ledger through a partnership with Ripple announced October 13. Developers building with Privy will be able to generate and manage XRPL wallets programmatically, sign transactions, and work with XRP, Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin and other tokens on the network. An exit route is also promised, with key and seed phrase export for anyone who wants to leave Privy.

The pitch covers two audiences. Payments companies can use embedded wallets to offer stablecoin transfers without customers ever handling keys, while AI agents can use server-side wallets to hold funds and pay for things, including through x402, an open standard in which a server responds with an HTTP 402 code and the client pays before retrying. Policy controls and gas sponsorship are next on the roadmap.

Ripple's Markus Infanger, who leads RippleX, said Privy brings "proven wallet infrastructure" that helps fintechs and developers put the XRPL into real products, including agentic commerce. Privy CEO Henri Stern said stablecoins are changing how money moves and that the XRPL has been "building for payments from the start." Privy credits the ledger with $1 trillion in value moved and over 8 million funded accounts.

Stripe has been folding Privy wallets into its own stablecoin push, including support for Open USD, while Ripple continues working to bring RLUSD into mainstream payment flows.