TL;DR:
- Visa partnered with WeFi, co-founded by former Tether director Reeve Collins, to build onchain banking and payments infrastructure.
- The rollout will begin in selected markets across Europe, Asia and Latin America, subject to local regulatory approvals.
- WeFi acts as an orchestration layer between DeFi and regulated payments infrastructure, focusing primarily on unbanked users.
Visa announced a partnership with WeFi, a blockchain-based stablecoin infrastructure firm, to develop onchain banking and payments services aimed at unbanked populations across different regions of the world. The collaboration seeks to provide a solution to what both companies call “the last half mile” of onchain banking infrastructure.
WeFi was co-founded by Reeve Collins, one of the original creators of Tether, and defines its platform as an orchestration layer between decentralized finance and regulated payment rails. The model, which the company calls “deobanking“, separates the control of digital assets from payment execution, allowing users to maintain autonomy over their custody without giving up access to regulated payment networks.
Visa: Infrastructure for the World’s Unbanked
Collins explained in an interview that the platform will assign IBAN numbers to its users and obtain operating licenses across different jurisdictions. The goal of Visa and WeFi is to offer functional bank accounts to those currently excluded from the traditional financial system. As the platform scales, the plan includes incorporating additional banks and institutions as partners.
The rollout will be carried out gradually, starting in selected markets across Europe, Asia and Latin America. Expansion into other regions will depend on local regulatory approvals and agreements with issuers. In its initial phase, the partnership will focus on regulated stablecoins suitable for everyday payments, leaving open the possibility of incorporating other digital assets in later stages.
Mathieu Altwegg, Head of Product & Solutions for Europe at Visa, noted that the alliance between both companies demonstrates how its global network can interact with onchain models within existing regulatory frameworks.
The initiative is a response to the growing adoption of stablecoins and tokenized assets as settlement instruments. Demand for infrastructure that translates onchain value into everyday economic activity continues to accelerate. The stablecoin market already exceeds $300 billion and still has significant room to grow.
