Visa announced a partnership with WeFi — a company founded by Reeve Collins, former CEO of Tether. Together, they plan to scale stablecoin payments across the Visa network while preserving full user self-custody: keys remain with the user rather than with an exchange or intermediary.
Most existing solutions rely on stablecoins as a background funding layer — the asset is converted at the point of use and effectively functions as collateral rather than a payment instrument. WeFi embeds stablecoins directly into the infrastructure: settlements are handled in the background, no conversion step is required, and the user sees a standard card transaction. At the same time, the non-custodial wallet remains fully under the user’s control.
Collins drew a clear distinction between crypto assets: users typically hold tokens as savings or investments, while stablecoins are structurally closer to a checking account — a role this partnership is designed to activate.
The rollout is taking place in phases across Europe, Asia, and Latin America, with expansion into new markets dependent on regulatory approvals. The first stage focuses on testing the scalability of WeFi’s infrastructure integrated with Visa’s global payments network.