Mesh and Visa want crypto spendable at 175 million-plus Visa merchant locations, with no separate crypto card

Mesh, a crypto payments company, and Visa have teamed up to make crypto and stablecoin balances spendable at Visa merchants without a separate crypto card. The companies announced the partnership on Monday, October 19.

Platforms where people hold crypto, stablecoins or fiat can offer the feature through Mesh. Visa supplies a payment credential in the background, so users can pay at a regular tap-to-pay checkout or online straight from their balance, with no need to sell or move their coins first. Mesh handles funding and conversion for each purchase, and the merchant receives a normal Visa payment, with no new hardware. Mesh also acts as program manager, handling onboarding and identity checks, so platforms do not have to run their own card program.

Visa's network covers more than 175 million merchant locations, according to the announcement. Mesh said its existing partners include Kalshi, Tools for Humanity, Félix Pago, Majority and KAST; it has not said which platforms will offer the Visa feature. "Crypto never had a spending problem — it has a last-mile problem, and until now, closing it meant getting a separate card," Bam Azizi, Mesh's chief executive and co-founder, said in the release.

Mesh has not yet said when the feature will go live, which devices will support it or which platforms will offer it first. The deal follows Visa's earlier tie-ups with Bridge and WeFi to connect digital-asset balances to its network, The Block noted.