WasabiCard launches local issuing in over 100 markets
WasabiCard launched local card issuing for more than 100 markets, pairing partner BINs with stablecoin settlement. The 24-hour start still waits on review.
WasabiCard has launched a Local Issuing Solution for branded card programs across more than 100 markets. Having watched issuer-processors sell one bank identification number (BIN) as worldwide coverage, the useful distinction is who issues. WasabiCard is offering one Application Programming Interface (API), local BIN access and a white-label card. Its site says the firm is not a bank or a custodian, and that card issuing sits with licensed partners. Finextra listed the release as a press article. The company newsroom post, published November 12, 2026, carries a Singapore dateline of November 11. GlobeNewswire's text on Business Insider dates the same announcement November 12.
A business can choose Visa or Mastercard, on a commercial or consumer BIN, and offer virtual or physical cards for Apple Pay and Google Pay where the program allows it. Balances can be funded in USDT, USDC or Open USD (OUSD), with spending in local currency where the card is accepted. A product note published on November 4 named only USDT and USDC for program settlement. Open USD arrives in the November wire. WasabiCard says local issuing can cut cross-border and foreign-exchange fees and help approval rates. It publishes no fee schedule and no approval study, so those points stay claims.
Global expansion has often meant issuing cards in one market and hoping the same model works everywhere else. That can create friction around compliance, card acceptance, and costs. Our Local Issuing Solution gives businesses the flexibility to issue natively in regional markets, settle in stablecoins, and deliver familiar branded experiences to end-users.
Ray Yang, co-founder and chief executive at WasabiCard, said that in the launch statement.
The 24-hour line is not a live program
WasabiCard says the API covers program setup, the card lifecycle and spending controls. An account can be activated in as little as 24 hours once filing and the know-your-business (KYB), compliance and partner reviews are done. The November 4 note is stricter than the wire. That clock is account opening, not a scheme go-live. Launch timing is assessed separately and still depends on integration, program approval, branding and physical-card production. Card availability, wallet features and permitted uses depend on the approved program and the market. Next to "more than 100 markets," this is a menu of sponsor arrangements, not one switch for every country.
Large issuers have not answered
Finextra's headline feed, read on November 13, 2026, had no item in which Marqeta, Stripe or Galileo addressed WasabiCard. The same day's news lines were elsewhere: Mastercard opening a Singapore innovation centre of excellence, and Visa and Anchorage Digital bringing a Western Union stablecoin onto a settlement network.
Closer comparisons on this desk are different builds, not replies. PhotonPay put a Series C into card issuing and local clearing. Pliant is opening its licensed business-to-business card rails to outside agents. Bloquo raised a seed round for Brazilian bank stablecoin settlement. WasabiCard asks clients to fund in stablecoins and to use a partner institution in each market. The pattern is on the fintech desk.
Two card counts, a week apart
The scale lines do not agree. The November 12 wire says WasabiCard has served more than 700 enterprise clients, issued over 700,000 cards and processed more than $1 billion in transaction volume across 200 countries and regions, with support for over 70 card BINs. The November 4 explainer keeps the client count, calls the volume cumulative, and puts issued cards at over 1 million, without the BIN or country counts. Neither page defines whether "issued" means created, activated or spent.
Before a stablecoin deposit can be spent, the wire says WasabiCard checks on-chain data for ties to scams or stolen assets. Direct exposure to a high-risk source is declined. An indirect link can be held for a compliance review. Each decision, the company says, leaves an auditable record for the issuing partner. The release also lists payouts to contractors and platform users, creator commissions, staffing payments, advertising cards batched by account, team or campaign, and employee budgets for purchasing, travel and subscriptions, including digital advertising and artificial intelligence services. No client or volume is attached to any of them.
FinCrunch, writing on November 12, stated the limit the release leaves out: coverage still depends on partner reach, compliance reviews and local rules, and the announcement is not an independent cost or approval comparison. The copyright line on the company site names Wasabi Ltd. What comes next is a named program, live in a second market on this API, with the BIN sponsor identified. Until then, the 24-hour line will outrun the approval file. If the card-count gap remains, treat "over 1 million" as the figure that needs a definition and "over 700,000" as the figure to test. WasabiCard says the Local Issuing Solution is available now. Availability, on those pages, is not approval.
Reporting by Rick Steves. Filed 13 November 2026, 13:34 GMT.
Senior Reporter, Regulation and Fintech
Rick Steves has seen business and economics through many lenses. He joined the financial services industry in 2009, and has been a financial journalist since 2011.
