Visa has announced a partnership with WeFi, a blockchain-based stablecoin infrastructure firm co-founded by Reeve Collins, a former Tether executive. The collaboration seeks to bridge the gap in on-chain payments and banking services by establishing a robust infrastructure. WeFi's platform acts as an intermediary between decentralized finance and traditional payment systems, supporting use cases such as cross-border transactions and on-chain value storage. According to Collins, the platform will offer users virtual bank accounts, complete with IBAN numbers, and will obtain necessary licenses to operate globally.
As the platform expands, it plans to partner with more financial institutions to cater to the underbanked population. The rollout will commence in select European, Asian, and Latin American markets, with further expansion dependent on local regulatory approvals and partnerships. Collins noted that the partnership with Visa completes the 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.