Visa, Mastercard, Bitget & Others Take Stablecoins Live in Everyday Payments

Welcome to this week’s PayFi Weekly, your radar for where crypto payments are happening, not just being talked about. 🌍💸

👀 This week, crypto isn’t just trending, it’s transacting! 🛒 Visa and Mastercard are shaping crypto payments. 🌐 Binance, Circle, and Bitget are building real financial rails across continents.

Also in the mix? Political pushback, real estate paid in Bitcoin, and AI agents sending stablecoins. 🔍📊

Let’s break down the signals.

🔦 Spotlight Story: Visa Launches Stablecoin Payments in LATAM

Visa has officially entered the stablecoin game, launching crypto-linked cards across six Latin American countries with Bridge. Users can now spend stablecoins like cash at any Visa-enabled merchant. This isn’t a pilot, it’s live, retail-ready, and rolling out where it’s needed most.

🪙 Why It Matters

Stablecoin utility is breaking out of crypto apps and entering the real economy. By connecting wallets directly to Visa’s global network, this move bypasses outdated banking infrastructure and brings fast, programmable payments to the point of sale.

🌎 Why LATAM?

Latin America’s mix of high inflation, weak currencies, and limited banking access makes it an ideal launchpad. Here, stablecoins like USDC and USDT are no longer speculative instruments, they’re becoming financial lifelines.

🧠 The Bigger Picture

Visa is no longer experimenting, it’s building a payments infrastructure. This pressures Mastercard, PayPal, and others to scale stablecoin offerings. And for the unbanked, this model offers bank-like utility without a bank.

👉 Explore the story

🏛️ Regulation

💰 Trump-Linked Stablecoin Fuels $2B Binance Deal. World Liberty Financial's USD1 stablecoin is used by UAE's MGX for a $2 billion investment in Binance. Read about the controversial investment

🛑 Indonesia Suspends World ID. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s digital identity project, World ID operations suspended over legal violations and false subsidiary claims, sparking regulatory scrutiny and public concern. Full story

🏛️ Democrats Stall GOP's Stablecoin Bill. Nine pro-crypto Senate Democrats withdraw support for the GOP-led stablecoin bill, citing concerns over AML safeguards and foreign issuer accountability. Learn more about the bill's challenges

🇦🇺 Australia’s Crypto Sector Pushes Legal Reform. Following the recent election, Australia's crypto sector urges the reelected government to prioritize comprehensive digital asset legislation to keep pace with global standards. Read about the push for crypto law reforms

🌍 Adoption

🏢 Trump’s Dubai Tower Accepts Crypto. The Trump Organization's $1 billion Dubai project will accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for luxury apartment purchases, marking a significant step in real estate crypto adoption. Read the full story on Decrypt

🪙 Kyrgyzstan's Gold-Backed Stablecoin Launches Soon! Kyrgyzstan plans to debut USDKG, a gold-backed stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar, in Q3 2025, backed by $500 million in national gold reserves. Learn more about USDKG's upcoming launch

🤖 Tether CEO Reveals Wild AI-Powered Future! Paolo Ardoino hints at decentralized AI agents capable of making USDT and BTC payments without centralized intermediaries. Explore Tether’s AI ambitions

🏃 Turn Your Steps into Spending Power! FSL launches GMT Pay, allowing users to convert earnings from Web3 apps like STEPN into real-world purchases via a virtual Mastercard. Discover how GMT Pay bridges Web3 and real life

🤝 Technology & Partnerships

💳 Mastercard Enables Stablecoins at 150M Merchants. Partnering with Circle, Paxos, and Nuvei to enable 150 million merchants to accept stablecoin payments, and integrating crypto into everyday transactions. Explore Mastercard's crypto expansion

🌍 Circle + Onafriq Cut African Payment Costs Circle integrates USDC into Onafriq’s 40-country network to tackle cross-border remittance fees. Read more

💳 Bitget Wallet + Paydify Go Live. Bitget Wallet integrates with Paydify, enabling users to spend USDT and USDC at various merchants, simplifying crypto transactions for daily use. Read the full article on The Fintech Times

🇰🇬 Binance Brings Crypto to Kyrgyzstan! Binance partners with Kyrgyzstan's investment agency to introduce Binance Pay and blockchain education, aiming to boost the nation's digital asset sector. Discover more on Cointelegraph

💥 Bitcoin’s First ZK App Store Raises $ 20 M. IBVM is building a privacy-focused app store on a Bitcoin Layer 2, backed by Rollman. Know more

🧩 Everything Else

🕵️ North Korean Hacker Attempts to Infiltrate Kraken! A North Korean operative was caught applying for a job at crypto exchange Kraken. Kraken tripped him by asking simple Halloween questions! Find out how Kraken thwarted the infiltration attempt

🌴 Maldives Bets $9B on a Crypto City. The island nation plans a $9B blockchain hub to replace tourism, triple its GDP, and attract Web3 giants. See the bold plan here

🐛 Solana Silently Squashes Dangerous Token Bug. A critical vulnerability allowing unlimited minting was patched quietly before it could wreak havoc on the network. How close was Solana to disaster?

🍏 Apple Eases App Store Crypto Restrictions. In response to a court ruling, Apple has revised its App Store guidelines, allowing apps to direct users to external payment options for crypto and NFT transactions. Discover the implications

💬 The PayFi Pulse

Crypto is becoming useful. We’re not just watching regulation evolve or infrastructure mature, we’re seeing real-world value exchange happen through stablecoins, smart wallets, and on-chain rails.

The momentum is building, and if you're reading this, you're already ahead of the curve. 🚀

Catch you next week! More rails, fewer barriers. 🧠🌍