Visa and Mesh: spend crypto and stablecoins from your wallet at 175 million shops

Visa and crypto payments network Mesh have agreed a partnership that will let people spend cryptocurrency and stablecoin balances directly from their digital wallets at merchants across Visa's network, without moving money to a bank account or getting a separate crypto card, Mesh announced on Monday, Cointelegraph reported.

Visa's network reaches more than 175 million merchant locations in over 200 countries and territories, so in principle a crypto wallet linked through Mesh could pay almost anywhere a Visa card works.

How the Visa and Mesh setup works

1. Your wallet gets Visa credentials. Participating wallet apps will carry Visa payment details, provisioned by Mesh.
2. You pay in crypto or stablecoins, in a shop or online.
3. Mesh converts at checkout, between cryptocurrencies, stablecoins such as USDT and USDC, and ordinary money, and funds the transaction.
4. The merchant receives a normal Visa payment, with no change to its checkout.

Mesh will also handle customer onboarding and Know Your Customer (KYC) checks.

What is not known yet: which wallets will take part, which devices are supported and when it launches. Mesh said those details will come as rollout plans are finalised.

Who Mesh is

Mesh raised $75 million in January in a round led by Dragonfly that valued it at $1 billion. In September it linked up with Bybit Pay so that users could spend directly from their exchange balances.

The Visa deal arrives in a busy week for crypto payments. Mastercard has launched stablecoin risk screening for banks and payment providers, and big buyers are still adding bitcoin: Strategy bought another 267 BTC on Monday, as we reported.

What it means in Pakistan

Do not expect to pay a Lahore shop in USDT next month. Visa's announcement does not name Pakistan, and crypto is not legal tender here. Whether wallets offering the service will onboard Pakistani users depends on their own KYC rules and on Pakistani regulation.

Where it could matter sooner is for Pakistanis abroad and for freelancers paid in stablecoins who travel. If wallets roll it out in the Gulf, the UK or Europe, someone holding USDT could pay a hotel or a shop there without first cashing out.

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