Visa has announced a partnership with WeFi, a blockchain-based stablecoin infrastructure company co-founded by Reeve Collins, a former Tether executive, to establish a robust on-chain payment and banking system. WeFi's platform serves as a bridge between decentralized finance and traditional payment infrastructure, supporting use cases such as cross-border transactions and on-chain value storage. According to Collins, the platform will offer users bank account-like services, complete with IBAN numbers, and will obtain necessary licenses to operate globally.
The partnership aims to expand to underbanked regions, starting with select markets in Europe, Asia, and Latin America, with further expansion dependent on local regulatory approvals. Collins noted that the partnership with Visa completes the 'last half mile' of on-chain banking infrastructure, while Mathieu Altwegg, Visa's Head of Product & Solutions in Europe, highlighted the collaboration as a demonstration of Visa's global network interacting with on-chain models within established regulatory frameworks.