Mesh, the leading crypto payments network, today announced a strategic partnership with Visa to make crypto and stablecoin balances spendable across Visa's global acceptance network.
External
This content is provided by an external author without editing by Finextra. It expresses the views and opinions of the author.
The first-of-its-kind collaboration combines Visa's global acceptance network with Mesh's orchestration infrastructure, enabling consumers to pay in-store and online directly from the balances they already hold in their wallet apps. Visa's network spans upwards of 175 million merchant locations across more than 200 countries and territories, with $14.2 trillion in payments volume in fiscal 2025. This partnership is designed to make that footprint reachable directly from a crypto or stablecoin balance.
Unlocking Trillions of Dollars of Stablecoin and Crypto Spending Power
The number of global crypto owners reached 774 million as of June 2026, according to Crypto.com research, yet almost none of their collective value reaches everyday spending. According to American Banker, crypto card volumes were running at roughly $1.5 billion monthly by late 2025. Despite several years of growth, this remains a small share of overall payments. Every existing route enabling fiat spend from a stablecoin balance still asks the consumer to act first: cash out to a bank account and wait, or sign up for a card tied to a single platform. This collaboration addresses those barriers and uses Mesh's infrastructure superpowers to turn digital asset balances into easy purchasing power across Visa's network.
How Mesh is Connecting Digital Assets to Global Commerce
Mesh will enable participating digital wallets and platforms to offer a pay-from-balance experience in-store and online. A Visa credential is provisioned behind the scenes, so the consumer taps at a standard contactless terminal or checks out online without having to sell, transfer, or preload funds. The merchant receives a standard payment, with no need for new hardware or any changes to the existing checkout workflow. Mesh, which already has more than 200 enterprises using its network, orchestrates how each transaction is funded and converted across supported balances, including crypto, stablecoins, and fiat.
Platforms where consumers hold crypto, stablecoin or fiat balances enable the experience through Mesh, without building or running a card program. Through its partnerships with top enterprises like Kalshi, Tools for Humanity, Félix Pago, Majority and KAST, Mesh's network reaches hundreds of millions of users and connects them to Visa on the merchant adoption side.
"Crypto never had a spending problem — it has a last-mile problem, and until now, closing it meant getting a separate card," said Bam Azizi, CEO and Co-founder of Mesh. "Mesh handles the funding and conversion, so a balance becomes purchasing power at the moment of payment, with nothing for the user to move and nothing for the merchant to change. We think your money should be spendable right where it already lives. With Visa and Mesh, it is."
"Consumers increasingly expect to use their money however and wherever they choose," said Rubail Birwadker, Global Head of Growth at Visa. "Working with Mesh helps expand how digital asset balances can connect to the trusted payment experiences consumers and merchants rely on every day."
Connecting Digital Asset Platforms to Global Commerce Infrastructure
Platforms where consumers hold crypto or stablecoin balances can benefit from Visa's payments infrastructure through a single integration with Mesh, rather than building and managing issuing and payments capabilities from scratch. As more platforms come online, a consumer with funds across several wallets can spend from each of them in fiat at Visa-accepting merchants, without a separate card. Mesh acts as the program manager, handling user onboarding and KYC. Mesh already connects hundreds of wallets, exchanges, and platforms, which may benefit from enabling Visa spending for its users. Once a platform is live, its users can spend anywhere Visa is accepted. Initial availability, supported devices, and participating platforms will be announced as rollout details are finalized.
Long term, Mesh's vision extends beyond any single asset class: wherever consumers hold value, Mesh aims to make it usable. Over the past year, the company joined Paxos's Global Dollar Network and launched the Mesh Alliance Program, which unites more than 50 partners to simplify the growing complexity of enterprise crypto payments. It also released Mesh Wallet, which empowers AI agents to complete real-world transactions using stablecoins.