Stripe and Plasma plan payment cards that spend stablecoins across five currencies, with availability targeted for more than 100 countries in 2027. The Motley Fool argues the card targets the same cross-border problem XRP was meant to solve, though it says the two probably won't compete directly.
Stripe and its partner Plasma have announced plans for payment cards that let people spend stablecoins across five currencies, with availability targeted for more than 100 countries in 2027. Using stablecoins to move the money behind each payment lets users avoid currency exchange fees and skip the wait for traditional international transfers to clear.
Five currencies, three from Latin America
The partnership was announced on October 15, 2026, and it extends Stripe's existing multi-currency stablecoin card infrastructure. The cards will support the US dollar, Brazilian real, euro, Mexican peso and Colombian peso.
Supported stablecoins include USDC and OUSD, along with other options compliant with the GENIUS Act. Three of the five fiat currencies, the real and the two pesos, come from Latin America.
A service already live in over 30 countries
The service is already operational in over 30 countries, and the 2027 goal is to push past 100. Monthly spending through Stripe's stablecoin card infrastructure is estimated at approximately $1.2 billion as of 2026.
Plasma, for its part, runs a blockchain built for stablecoin transactions and operates the Plasma One neobank app. Under the partnership, Plasma One customers' multi-currency accounts will move to Stripe's card infrastructure.
What the card means for XRP
The Motley Fool's Alex Carchidi says the card highlights an awkward problem for XRP, which was originally meant to be a bridge currency working around those same issues. Stripe's card, he writes, attacks the pain point from the other direction: someone holding pesos spends pesos directly, so there is nothing to bridge.
However, the Fool piece says XRP's biggest remaining niche is very large transfers between thinly traded currency pairs, where a big stablecoin swap could lose value to slippage. That is mostly a concern for financial institutions, not individuals, according to the article.
As a result, the Fool piece concludes the two probably won't compete directly unless one player tries to encroach on the other's turf.
Sources: Crypto Briefing, Fool
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