Stablecoin cards are booming, but who makes money when you swipe?

Someone paying for lunch with a stablecoin card doesn't need the restaurant to know what USDC is. The card works like any other at the terminal, with the customer's digital dollar balance funding the purchase while the merchant receives regular dollars through its usual payment provider.That leaves several companies to collect fees for connecting the two.Visa enables this arrangement through its partnership with Bridge, which allows customers in Colombia to spend stablecoins while merchants receive Colombian pesos.Bridge handles the conversion, so neither the restaurant nor its payment provider needs to accept cryptocurrency, letting customers spend stablecoins without first withdrawing them to a bank account.On Oct. 1, Visa reported more than 160 stablecoin-linked card programs, with payment volume up nearly 200% from the previous year, creating a growing business for companies such as Bridge, Wirex, and Rain that provide the infrastructure behind those cards.Much of their revenue comes from payment fees, with additional opportunities in currency conversion, settlement financing, and customer subscriptions. The new funding source hasn't removed the traditional costs of running a c...