Mesh and Visa want crypto to be spendable with no card

Crypto payments firm Mesh has partnered with Visa to let people spend crypto and stablecoin balances held in participating wallet apps anywhere Visa is accepted — more than 175 million merchant locations — without first selling the assets or getting a separate card. The deal was announced on Oct. 19 in a Mesh press release and reported by The Block.

How it is supposed to work

• A Visa credential is created behind the scenes inside the wallet app, so the user can tap a normal contactless terminal or pay online.
• At the moment of payment, Mesh decides how the purchase is funded and converts crypto, stablecoins or fiat as needed.
• The merchant receives an ordinary Visa payment, with no new hardware or checkout changes.
• Wallets and platforms join through a single Mesh integration instead of running their own card programme. Mesh says more than 200 enterprises use its network, naming partners such as Kalshi, Tools for Humanity, Félix Pago, Majority and KAST.

What is missing: Mesh has not said when the service goes live, which devices are supported or which wallets will offer it first.

Our take

The pitch is right about the friction. Today, spending a stablecoin balance usually means cashing out to a bank and waiting, or signing up for a card tied to one platform — the model behind products such as Coinbase and Marqeta's stablecoin-backed cards. The release cites American Banker estimates that crypto card volume was about $1.5 billion a month by late 2025, still a small slice of payments. Visa, which says its network handled $14.2 trillion in payments in fiscal 2025, keeps adding crypto routes: it worked with Bridge on stablecoin-funded cards last year, with WeFi on self-custody spending in April, and recently took USDC prefunding live.

Removing the card, though, does not remove everything else. Each purchase still converts an asset, which in many countries can count as a taxable disposal when the coin is not a stablecoin pegged to your currency. Fees, exchange rates and who holds the keys will depend on the wallet. And Mesh — the company behind PayPal's "Pay with Crypto", which reached unicorn status after a $75 million Series C led by Dragonfly in January — has yet to name its launch partners. Until it does, this is a promising plumbing deal, not a product people can use.