On May 21, Korean media outlet Tokenpost published an exclusive interview with Maksym Sakharov, Group CEO of emerging fintech company WeFi. The interview mentions that WeFi is advancing a stablecoin payments partnership with Visa, and that its Chairman position is held by Reeve Collins, one of the co-founders of Tether — the world’s first stablecoin. One boundary needs to be stated upfront: as of publication, the primary verifiable source for this information is the Korean-language interview itself. Visa’s official crypto business page is a general introduction and does not separately disclose details, timelines, or committed figures for this partnership. This article therefore treats the information with the certainty of “as reported” and does not restate product positioning or partnership timelines from the interview as established fact.
Which Layer Does This News Sit On — and Why It May Not Directly Affect Your Card
The key to understanding this news is recognising that the “card network layer” and “the card in your wallet” are two different things.
Visa is a clearing network sitting at the very top of the USDT card supply chain. When Visa talks about “stablecoin settlement,” it is generally discussing experiments around how to use stablecoins for internal network clearing and settlement — not the fee rate or credit limit of any particular consumer card. Even if WeFi genuinely reaches an agreement with Visa, getting that down to a card you can actually swipe involves multiple additional steps: an issuing institution, a BIN program sponsor, regulatory licensing, and regional rollout.
For readers currently using USDT cards, the realistic outlook by time horizon is:
- Within 7 days: Nothing changes. The MPCard, Bybit Card, or RedotPay in your wallet will not be affected in terms of fees, limits, or supported regions.
- Within 30 days: Worth watching whether Visa’s official channels (press releases / investor communications) separately confirm this partnership. If the interview’s claims lack a first-party Visa endorsement, they remain at the “company spokesperson” stage.
- Within 90 days: If the partnership is real and a product launches, the first to benefit would more likely be WeFi’s own wallet or card product — not existing third-party USDT cards. For current users, this looks more like “a future additional option” than “an upgrade to your existing card.”
In short, this is an upstream signal, not an immediately actionable product change. For practical differences between cards you can use right now, the more relevant reference is the 2026 USDT Card Top 5.
Historical Context: Visa’s Stablecoin Moves Have Always Been “Experiment First, Slow to Land”
Putting this news inside Visa’s own timeline brings useful perspective.
Visa announced a pilot using USDC for settlement on Ethereum in 2021, and in 2023 extended that to USDC settlement experiments on the Solana network — directional information that can be found on Visa’s official crypto business page. But the gap between “pilot announced” and “a card ordinary users can swipe” has typically been measured in years, and the majority of experiments have remained at the B2B clearing layer without ever becoming a consumer product.
What this move has in common with the past: it is still a settlement experiment or partnership at the network layer, with distance from the consumer end. What is different: the WeFi partner reportedly involves a Tether co-founder, which leads observers to think about USDT rather than USDC settlement paths — but this is precisely the part with the least first-party evidence right now; there is no explicit Visa-side confirmation beyond the interview.
Compared to an event like the brief USDC de-peg in 2023 — which directly hit the usable balance on USDT cards — the urgency of this news is on a completely different scale. A de-peg is “your money today has a problem”; this is “there may be one more settlement channel in the future.”
Compliance Perspective: Stablecoin Settlement Remains a Country-by-Country Grey Zone in Asia-Pacific
Whether a network-layer move by Visa can land in a specific region depends on local stablecoin and payment licensing frameworks. Asia-Pacific markets vary enormously:
- For Singapore’s stablecoin regulatory framework, see the Singapore compliance guide.
- For Hong Kong’s stablecoin ordinance and card issuance compliance, see the Hong Kong compliance guide.
- Japan has a relatively defined legislative path for stablecoin settlement; see the Japan compliance guide.
To be clear: even if the Visa–WeFi partnership is real, it does not automatically change any country’s regulatory stance on USDT cards. Whether a card can be used compliantly in your region depends on the licenses held by the issuer and local rules — not an upstream network partnership announcement. Stablecoin-based consumer spending in most Asia-Pacific markets sits in a grey zone of “not explicitly prohibited but regulatory details still evolving,” and this news does not change that.
Key Milestones Worth Watching
- Whether Visa issues a separate official statement confirming the partnership — this is the first filter for evaluating the interview’s credibility. Until an official release exists, the “as reported” mindset is warranted.
- Whether WeFi announces a product form and target markets — is this in-wallet settlement, or an actual issued card? Which markets does it target?
- Whether a specific stablecoin is named — USDC, USDT, or something else? This determines whether it carries practical relevance for USDT card users.
- Whether a specific BIN or issuing institution is disclosed — this is the real marker of movement from “network partnership” to “a card you can swipe.”
Editorial Recommendations
- Users holding MPCard, Bybit Card, or RedotPay: no action needed. This news does not affect your current fees, limits, or availability.
- Users shopping for a card: do not wait for the “Visa × WeFi” story. The product has not launched; the stablecoin and regions are unconfirmed. Waiting means waiting indefinitely. For a card you can use right now, compare the 2026 Top 5 or our editorial pick in the MPCard review.
- Users tracking stablecoin settlement trends: treat this as directional context, not an action signal. There will be time to reassess once Visa’s official communications or WeFi’s product page show a specific timeline and stablecoin.
We will update this article when Visa or WeFi issues a first-party announcement. Until then, the correct way to read this news is: something is stirring upstream, but the card in your pocket works the same way today as it did yesterday.