Stripe plans to extend its stablecoin-backed card business to more than 100 countries by the end of 2026. Henri Stern, the company's head of stablecoins and crypto, told CoinDesk that the company expects to hit that coverage mark as the next stage of its card rollout.

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 — the stablecoin infrastructure company Stripe acquired in 2025 — 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 a card to their own users.

One illustration: a marketplace pays a creator in a dollar stablecoin. The creator can spend from that balance through a card issued under the marketplace's Stripe programme, rather than first moving funds through an exchange and waiting for a local bank withdrawal.

At the merchant's end, the purchase runs over the card infrastructure already used for everyday transactions. That allows stablecoins to 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 involves 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. According to Stripe's Issuing product page, 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' Means Coverage, Not Universal Access

The country count describes where Stripe plans to make card programmes available to platforms. Local rules, identity checks, each 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, and 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, and the token's expansion to Ethereum widened the networks on which it 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.

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.

Active Use Will Determine the Rollout's 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.