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Stripe Bridge stablecoin cards in 2026: how the rail works and which cards run on it
Stripe agreed to buy Bridge in October 2024 for $1.1B (the deal closed in February 2025), and the deal now shows up in consumer cards. Visa announced in March 2026 it is expanding its Bridge-powered stablecoin card program from 18 countries to 100+ by year-end, and Bridge counted 30 countries by the end of April. Phantom Cash and Tuyo are the consumer products you can use today. Each programme sets its own prices, and this guide covers both.
TL;DR:
- What it is: Stripe Issuing + Bridge stablecoin infrastructure → debit cards that settle in stablecoins.
- Live cards on the stack: Phantom Cash (CASH stablecoin), Tuyo Card (USD and EUR virtual accounts via Bridge).
- Rollout: Visa+Bridge went from 18 countries (March 2026) to 30 (April), with 100+ promised by the end of 2026.
- FX: no flat rate is published for the rail. Phantom Cash charges nothing on US purchases and shows international fees only before you confirm; Tuyo charges 1% FX plus a 1% abroad fee, up to 2%.
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How this rail showed up on my radar
The Stripe-Bridge story moved from press-release talk to actual consumer products in the second half of 2025. Phantom Cash launched in early access on December 30, 2025 with CASH as a Bridge-issued stablecoin and Lead Bank as the BIN sponsor. Tuyo wired up Bridge for virtual bank accounts and fiat-to-USDC conversion. Then on March 3, 2026 Visa announced the 18-to-100 country expansion of the same rail.
What Bridge adds is the stablecoin layer. The balance sits as a stablecoin until the swipe, and Bridge converts it to dollars for the Visa transaction. The user never sees Bridge. Whether that makes the card cheaper for you depends on the programme's own fees, and the two live cards price very differently. I have not held every product mentioned here; fees and terms come from the issuers' published pages, not from my own card statements.
What Stripe Bridge is
Stripe acquired Bridge in October 2024 for $1.1B and closed the deal in February 2025. Bridge is stablecoin payment infrastructure: APIs that let businesses move stablecoins between fiat and crypto rails programmatically. After the acquisition Stripe combined Bridge with Stripe Issuing (programmatic debit card issuance) and Stablecoin Financial Accounts, the dollar-denominated treasury product Stripe announced at Sessions 2025 in 101 countries. In September 2025 Bridge added Open Issuance, which lets a business launch its own stablecoin, and in April 2026 its stablecoin-backed cards were integrated with Stripe Issuing.
The combined stack does three things. It takes stablecoin deposits on several chains. It either holds the stablecoin in a Bridge-managed account or leaves it in the user's self-custodial wallet, depending on the program (CASH on Solana for Phantom, USDC on Base for Tuyo). And at the moment of card spend it converts the stablecoin to dollars for a Visa transaction; on Bridge's own programme Lead Bank issues the card.
The result is a card that looks normal to the user (a Visa, accepted everywhere) with a stablecoin balance behind it instead of a bank deposit. The programme still sets its own fees on top.
Where the money goes on a swipe
The Bridge stack adds two layers between "user with stablecoins" and "merchant accepting Visa." Each layer does one job. The fees you pay are set by the card programme.
- User wallet holds stablecoins on multiple chains (USDC on Base, CASH on Solana, etc.).
- Bridge holds or converts the stablecoin depending on the program, converting it to dollars at the swipe.
- Lead Bank issues the card on Bridge's own programme; Stripe Issuing runs the card programme.
- Visa authorises the transaction and converts to local currency at its network rate; cards are issued in 30 countries (April 2026), with 100+ planned by the end of 2026.
- Merchant receives the full $100 in local currency.
The card programme sets its own fees on top of the Visa step, and the Bridge layer does not make them zero: Phantom Cash charges nothing on US purchases and does not publish international fees, and Tuyo charges 1% FX plus 1% outside the US.
How a Stripe Bridge card differs from a normal crypto card
The difference is in the spend flow. The table sets the typical traditional crypto card path against the Bridge path.
| Step | Traditional crypto card | Stripe Bridge card |
|---|---|---|
| 1. User funds the card | Crypto deposit to issuer wallet | Stablecoin in your own wallet (Phantom Cash, Tuyo) or a Bridge-managed wallet |
| 2. Balance held as | Crypto, often staked for yield by issuer | Stablecoin (USDC, CASH, etc.) |
| 3. User spends $100 abroad | Issuer converts crypto → USD → local currency at issuer-set spread | Bridge converts the stablecoin to USD at the swipe; Visa converts to local currency |
| 4. FX cost to you | Set by the issuer; not every issuer publishes it | Set by the programme: Phantom Cash unpublished outside the US; Tuyo 1% FX + 1% abroad |
| 5. Settlement with Visa | Issuer settles in fiat | Issuer can settle in stablecoins through Visa's settlement pilot |
| 6. Issuer-side risk | Issuer holds your crypto + treasury management risk | The stablecoin issuer (Bridge, for CASH) holds the dollar reserves |
The trade-off: you hold a stablecoin instead of BTC or ETH that might appreciate, and in return your balance is dollars from the moment you load it. If you want to spend dollars without betting on price, that suits you. If you want to spend crypto with its volatility upside, it's the wrong product.
Cards using Stripe Bridge today
Top cards to consider
Phantom Cash Card
| Network | Visa (prepaid, issued by Lead Bank) |
|---|---|
| Stablecoin | CASH, 1:1 USD-backed, issued by Bridge |
| Top-up chain | Solana (CASH is an SPL token) |
| Custody | Self-custody. CASH stays on-chain in your Phantom wallet until spend |
| Region | US only (excluding New York); international rollout planned |
| Top-up fees | Free swaps into CASH from USDC, USDT, USDG or PYUSD; 0.85% from other tokens; in the US also ACH direct deposit 0.30%, debit card or Apple Pay 1.75% |
| FX | Not published: no fee on US purchases; Phantom says fees may apply to international purchases and are shown before you confirm |
| Card | Virtual only, no ATM access; $2,000 a day to start; no cashback |
Phantom Cash is the cleanest live example of the Bridge stack in production. CASH stays on-chain in the user's Phantom wallet, and Bridge converts CASH to USD at the moment of the swipe so the Visa rail sees a standard dollar transaction. A partner handles KYC (Phantom does not store your documents), Lead Bank issues the card and Bridge manages the stablecoin layer. The Solana-only balance is the real constraint. If you need multi-chain funding you will route through Phantom's in-wallet swap flow first; US users can also fund it by ACH direct deposit or debit card.
Phantom's own wording leaves the custody mechanics half-described. One page says "Self-custodial: Your Cash account is a Solana wallet that only you control"; another says "When you make a payment, Bridge (our partner) draws CASH from your Cash account"; a third says swaps and transfers "happen instantly without transaction prompts". No page describes a per-payment signature on your device, and none says what happens to card payments if Solana halts. Disputes go through Galileo.
See our best Solana crypto cards guide for the wider Solana-card market Phantom Cash sits inside, and how it compares to SolCard, Decaf and Fuse on custody and FX.
Get Phantom Cash CardNot a partner link.
Tuyo Card
| Network | Visa (virtual; no physical card yet), issued by Third National through Rain |
|---|---|
| Stablecoin | USDC on Base. Spends from a self-custodial wallet |
| Bank accounts | Virtual accounts via Bridge: USD (ACH or wire, no SWIFT), EUR (SEPA), MXN where eligibility checks pass; incoming fiat auto-converts to USDC |
| Custody | Self-custody. Private keys stay on the user's device |
| Region | Published only as exclusion lists: the UK is prohibited platform-wide, and 19 US states, DC and five US territories are excluded; Bridge does not serve New York residents |
| FX | 1% on non-USD purchases plus a 1% abroad fee on any purchase outside the US, up to 2% (help centre, September 2026; tuyo.com still says up to 1%); USD purchases in the US free |
| ATM | PIN cash on the virtual card, up to $250 a withdrawal and three attempts a day |
| Yield | Optional interest on the Tuyo Cash balance the card spends, through a strategy you switch on in the app; variable rates shown in the app, with a risk of loss and no deposit insurance |
Tuyo's headline mechanic is salary-to-USDC. You set up a USD or EUR virtual account through Bridge and your employer pays in EUR or USD. The funds land as USDC on Base in a wallet you control. The card then spends that USDC directly on the Visa rail. Bridge handles the bank accounts and fiat-to-stablecoin step, while the card itself is issued by Third National through Rain, not through Stripe Issuing. The spending side stays self-custodial. Spending outside dollars costs 1% FX, plus 1% on any purchase outside the US, up to 2% in total. This makes Tuyo the rare card that combines EU banking rails with true self-custody on the spending balance.
For Latam users who also care about regional rules, see our Brazil Mastercard guide for IOF and SPSAV context, though Tuyo runs on Visa, not Mastercard.
Open Tuyo CardPartner link.
Two cards is a small live set. Visa's March release also names MetaMask among the platforms using Bridge-enabled cards. Card programmes rarely advertise the rail, so the reliable tell is the issuer line in the card terms: Bridge's own programme reads "issued by Lead Bank and managed by Bridge Ventures, LLC".
The Visa+Bridge 100-country rollout
On March 3, 2026 Visa announced an expansion of its Bridge partnership from 18 countries to 100+ by end of 2026. The program lets fintechs and wallet providers offer cards that spend stablecoin balances at Visa's 175 million merchant locations worldwide, and the release names Phantom and MetaMask as platforms already using the cards. New coverage targets Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa, and the Middle East.
The initial footprint launched in 2025 with a Latin America focus (Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Chile), reached 18 countries by March 2026 and, by Bridge's count on 29 April 2026, 30 countries through one Stripe Issuing integration.
For users the expansion mostly means more local fintechs in smaller markets can offer a crypto card without building card issuance themselves. It does not fix the price: each programme still sets its own FX and fees, as the two live cards show.
Mastercard is not on the Bridge rail. In March 2026 Mastercard announced its acquisition of BVNK for up to $1.8B ($1.5B cash + $300M contingent) and completed it on 3 August 2026, to build its own stablecoin infrastructure separate from Stripe-owned Bridge. We have not yet seen a consumer card announced on that rail. For now, the Bridge consumer story is Visa-only.
FX spreads on Bridge cards vs traditional issuers
The table shows FX cost on $10,000/year of international card spending, using each issuer's published fees.
| Card type | Published FX fee | Annual FX cost on $10k |
|---|---|---|
| Traditional bank debit (HSBC UK, Chase) | 2.75% (HSBC UK) to 3% (Chase) | $275-300 |
| Crypto.com Visa | 2-3% FX fee below the Private tiers (3% in the US, 2% in Canada and outside the EU and UK; Plus and Pro get a free monthly allowance in Canada, and in the EEA and UK from 1 October 2026) | $200-300 |
| Binance Card (Brazil programme, one of three) | 1-2% | $100-200 |
| Wise | 0.33-3.5%, depending on the currency pair | $33-350 |
| Ether.fi Cash (self-custody) | 0% on USD and EUR; about 1-1.5% on other currencies (Core tier) | $0-150 |
| MetaMask Card (Free tier) | 1% cross-border fee by merchant location, plus 0.5% when the stablecoin's currency is neither yours nor the merchant's | $100-150 |
| Tuyo (Bridge accounts, Rain-issued card) | 1% FX + 1% abroad, up to 2% | $100-200 |
| Phantom Cash (Bridge) | $0 on US purchases; international fees not published | Unknown |
On published numbers, the Bridge-linked cards are not the cheapest FX option here. Tuyo's up-to-2% sits with Crypto.com's 2% tier, above Ether.fi on dollars and euros, and Phantom Cash can't be priced abroad at all because Phantom shows the fee only before you confirm a purchase. The stablecoin layer changes who holds your money; it does not set the fee.
For someone spending $10,000 a year abroad, the spread in this table runs from $0 to $300 a year on FX alone, before any cashback.
Open Issuance lets businesses launch their own cards
On 30 September 2025 Stripe and Bridge launched Open Issuance, which lets a business launch and manage its own stablecoin; Phantom's CASH was the first one issued on it. Since April 2026 Bridge's stablecoin-backed cards are integrated with Stripe Issuing, so a platform can pair its own stablecoin with a card programme without building card issuance itself.
Illustrative examples of what this allows (hypothetical, not announced programs):
- A payroll platform launches a stablecoin-backed debit card for international contractors: it pays in USDC and the contractor spends locally with a Stripe Bridge card.
- A marketplace launches a seller-payout card: sellers receive USDC from the marketplace and can spend it directly without converting to local bank.
- A crypto exchange launches a custom stablecoin and pairs it with a card program for user spending, without needing to build their own card-issuing infrastructure.
This is the wholesale side of the consumer rollout, and Phantom Cash is what it looks like finished: a wallet's own stablecoin, issued by Bridge, spent on a Lead Bank Visa.
Reserve, insolvency and regulatory risk
A stablecoin balance behind a Visa still carries three risks to price in:
- Stablecoin reserve risk. CASH and other Bridge-issued stablecoins are backed 1:1 by dollar reserves that Bridge holds, so you are trusting Bridge's reserves the way a USDC holder trusts Circle's. Circle publishes monthly reserve reports; check what Bridge publishes for the specific stablecoin before you hold a large balance in it.
- What happens if Bridge fails. Bridge is a Stripe subsidiary. In a failure, custodial card balances on the rail would depend on how customer funds are segregated at the Bridge banking layer. There is no FDIC insurance on stablecoin balances themselves; insurance applies to dollars held at insured partner banks, subject to that bank's coverage limits.
- Regulatory single point of failure. A US regulatory action against Bridge or against a Bridge-issued stablecoin (CASH in particular) could freeze spending on every consumer card that depends on it at once. Diversifying across cards on different infrastructure is a reasonable hedge. Our self-custody vs custodial guide breaks this risk down.
GENIUS Act, MiCA and SPSAV
Bridge cards in 2026 sit across three regulatory regimes. The GENIUS Act sets US stablecoin rules from January 2027 at the latest, MiCA pulled EU stablecoin rules into one framework, and SPSAV's application deadline for existing Brazilian providers is 30 October 2026.
- Oct 2024: Stripe buys Bridge (past): $1.1B acquisition announced (completed February 2025).
- Jul 2025: GENIUS Act (past): Signed 18 July; in force by 18 January 2027 at the latest.
- Apr 2026: Stripe Issuing (past): Bridge cards integrated with Stripe Issuing; 30 countries.
- Jul 1, 2026: MiCA full (past): Transitional period for existing providers ended (Art. 143).
- Oct 30, 2026: SPSAV deadline (upcoming): BCB filing required for Brazil.
- Late 2026: Visa 100 countries (upcoming): Bridge-powered card programme expanded.
Three regulatory developments matter for Bridge card adoption in 2026:
- GENIUS Act (US). The Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act, signed on 18 July 2025, sets federal rules for payment stablecoins such as CASH. It takes effect on the earlier of 18 January 2027 or 120 days after the regulators' final rules, and in mid-2026 those rules were still proposals.
- MiCA (EU). The EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation requires stablecoin issuers serving EU users to meet reserve and disclosure rules. Bridge serves EEA residents through Bridge Building S.A., a Luxembourg company, according to its own site; which Bridge-linked cards reach EU consumers is up to each programme.
- SPSAV (Brazil). Brazil's SPSAV framework took effect February 2, 2026 (Resolutions 519/520/521) and classifies stablecoin transfers as foreign exchange operations. Providers already operating have until 30 October 2026 (270 days from Resolution 520's entry into force) to apply for authorisation. We have not seen a Bridge-linked consumer card announced for Brazil.
What's coming in 2027
Three things to watch through the second half of 2026 and into 2027:
- Mastercard's BVNK-based stablecoin rail. Mastercard's BVNK acquisition ($1.8B), announced in March 2026 and completed on 3 August, is the basis for a separate stablecoin settlement rail. Watch for the first consumer Mastercard on it; we had not seen one announced by late September 2026.
- Self-custody Bridge cards. Bridge documentation supports non-custodial wallet integration (Bridge, Privy, third-party wallets), and Phantom Cash already keeps CASH in the user's own wallet until the swipe. Solflare's self-custody Mastercard, which stopped working on 28 July 2026 when its issuing partner Kulipa wound down, ran on a Mastercard rail directly, not on Bridge.
- Smaller-market consumer rollouts. Visa and Bridge have promised 100+ countries by the end of 2026, against 30 in April. Whether that turns into consumer cards in Latin America, Africa and Southeast Asia depends on local fintechs launching them; neither company has named them.
Sources & references
This is what we read to write the guide: regulators, issuer fee schedules and archived snapshots. Not every sentence above has its own link here. If a number looks wrong, start with these.
- Stripe completes Bridge acquisition, StripeOfficial Stripe announcement of the $1.1B Bridge acquisition (agreed October 2024, closed February 2025) that anchors every card discussed in this guide.
- Bridge stablecoin platform, BridgeAcquired-entity homepage describing the orchestration API that issues USDC/USDT-funded card top-ups behind the scenes.
- Visa expands stablecoin settlement capabilities to merchant acquirers, VisaVisa's own release on settling in Circle's USDC, following its Crypto.com issuer pilot; the network-side context for the cards Bridge is now issuing.
- Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) Regulation, European Securities and Markets AuthorityEU stablecoin framework in force since December 2024; it constrains which Bridge-issued products can serve European users.
- USDC transparency reports, CircleMonthly attestations on USDC reserves, relevant to the issuer-credit discussion in the stablecoin-on-card section above.
- Visa and Bridge expand collaboration, Visa3 March 2026: Bridge-enabled cards live in 18 countries, 100+ planned by the end of the year; Phantom and MetaMask named.
- Stablecoin-backed cards are now integrated with Stripe Issuing, Bridge29 April 2026: cards available in 30 countries, on track for 100+ by the end of 2026; issued by Lead Bank and managed by Bridge Ventures.
- Mastercard completes acquisition of BVNK, Mastercard3 August 2026 completion of the deal announced in March for up to $1.8B.
- GENIUS Act regulations: notice of proposed rulemaking, OCCThe effective date: the earlier of 18 months after enactment (18 July 2025) or 120 days after final regulations.
Frequently asked questions
A debit card where the spending balance sits as a stablecoin (typically USDC, or a Bridge-issued equivalent like CASH) and converts to fiat at the moment of purchase. Stripe agreed to buy Bridge in October 2024 for $1.1B (the deal closed in February 2025) and combined it with Stripe Issuing. On Bridge's own card programme, Lead Bank issues the prepaid Visa and Bridge Ventures manages it, while Bridge handles the stablecoin layer. Visa's stablecoin settlement pilot also lets issuers of these cards settle with Visa in stablecoins. Phantom Cash and Tuyo are the most visible consumer products on this stack as of mid-2026. Both are Visa, not Mastercard. Tuyo uses Bridge for its bank accounts, while its card is issued by Third National through Rain. The Bridge consumer story is Visa-only today.
Most crypto cards work like this: you deposit crypto with the issuer, the issuer holds it (or stakes it for yield), and at the moment you spend, the issuer's internal system converts it to fiat at whatever spread they set. Stripe Bridge cards split those roles. The stablecoin sits either in the user's self-custodial wallet (Phantom Cash) or a Bridge-managed wallet, conversion happens through Bridge at the moment of swipe, and the issuer can settle with Visa in stablecoins through Visa's settlement pilot. What that does to your price depends on the programme, not the rail: Phantom Cash charges nothing on US purchases and does not publish its international fees, while Tuyo charges 1% FX plus a 1% abroad fee.
The count moves fast, so date it. On 3 March 2026 Visa said Bridge-enabled cards were live in 18 countries (the 2025 launch focused on Latin America: Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Chile) and would reach 100+ across Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa and the Middle East by the end of 2026. On 29 April 2026, around Stripe Sessions, Bridge put the count at 30 countries through a single Stripe Issuing integration, still on track for 100+ by year-end. Cards issued in those countries work wherever Visa is accepted. A card being issued somewhere does not make every consumer product available there: Phantom Cash is still US-only.
Mixed, and the live products lean self-custody. Bridge documentation supports cards on Bridge-managed wallets, Privy, or third-party wallets, so programs can pick self-custody (your wallet, your keys) or custodial (Bridge holds the stablecoin in a managed wallet). Phantom Cash keeps CASH on-chain in the user's Phantom wallet and Bridge converts CASH to USD at the moment of purchase. Tuyo Card is self-custodial too, spending USDC on Base from a wallet whose keys never leave the device, with Bridge providing the USD and EUR virtual accounts and fiat-to-USDC conversion; the card itself is issued by Third National through Rain. The custodial path exists for issuers who want it; the early consumer products picked self-custody.
Not automatically. Neither Stripe nor Bridge publishes a flat FX rate for the rail, so each programme sets its own. Phantom Cash charges nothing on US purchases, but it does not publish its international fees and shows them only before you confirm a purchase, and we hold no Phantom Cash statement of our own. Tuyo, the other card on this stack, publishes 1% FX plus a 1% abroad fee, up to 2%. On the published numbers, a Bridge-linked card is not automatically cheaper abroad than a traditional crypto card.
Yes. Bridge launched Open Issuance on 30 September 2025, letting a business launch and manage its own stablecoin, and in April 2026 Bridge's stablecoin-backed cards were integrated with Stripe Issuing, so a platform can issue cards to its users (employees, contractors, marketplace sellers) that spend from a stablecoin wallet. The stack is Open Issuance for the token, Bridge for the stablecoin infrastructure and Stripe Issuing for the card programme. It is aimed at fintechs and platforms, not consumers directly. Phantom's CASH was the first stablecoin launched through Open Issuance.
The GENIUS Act (Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins), signed on 18 July 2025, sets the federal framework for payment stablecoins such as CASH and other Bridge-issued tokens. It is not fully in force yet: it takes effect on the earlier of 18 January 2027 or 120 days after the federal regulators issue final rules, and in mid-2026 those rules were still at the proposal stage. Until then, a card user holds the same stablecoin under the same issuer terms as before; the Act changes who supervises the issuer and what reserves it must hold once it applies.
Visa announced its 100-country Bridge expansion in March 2026, and the consumer cards on the Bridge stack today are Visa. Mastercard is building a separate stablecoin rail through its March 2026 acquisition of BVNK ($1.8B). Mastercard is not a Bridge partner. The BVNK deal closed on 3 August 2026, and we have not yet seen a consumer card announced on that rail, so for a user picking a card today the Bridge options are Visa.
Limited. Phantom Cash pays no cashback, and an earlier "up to 8%" figure could not be verified. Tuyo runs a TUYO points / airdrop program tied to a token that has not launched: Tuyo says it expects to launch a token in 2026, none trades as of 25 September 2026, and there is no standing fiat cashback. Neither card competes on rewards. If cashback is what you optimise for, traditional crypto cards (Crypto.com Visa on its upper staking tiers, for instance) win on the headline rate.
Visa and Bridge have said 100+ countries by the end of 2026, and Bridge counted 30 in April. Neither publishes a list of the consumer products coming. Mastercard is not a Bridge partner: it closed its BVNK acquisition in August 2026 to build its own stablecoin rail. To track the rollout, watch Stripe (its Sessions conference each spring), Visa (quarterly investor calls) and the Bridge blog. We update this guide as new products launch.