Reap Wants to Link a Mexican Peso Stablecoin to Visa
Through Visa, Reap wants to use a peso stablecoin for cards, cross-border payments, and treasury. The move fits into the growth of local stablecoins in Latin America.
Key Takeaways
- Reap is working on a Mexican peso stablecoin for card products, cross-border payments, and treasury services.
- Through a partnership with Visa, the fintech company wants to make 24/7 settlement possible; Reap handles issuance, checks, and compliance.
- Reap is also exploring stablecoins for the Hong Kong dollar, euro, won, and yen, but it has not announced a launch date yet.
Reap is working on adding a stablecoin tied to the Mexican peso for its card products, cross-border payments, and treasury services. The fintech company, which is a Visa Principal Issuer Member, wants to make round-the-clock settlement possible through its partnership with Visa.
Peso as the First Step
According to founder Daren Guo, Reap is also looking at tokens tied to the Hong Kong dollar, the euro, the won, and the yen. The company calls the peso token a logical first step because Reap has licenses in Hong Kong and Mexico.
Reap is owned by Payward, Kraken's parent company, and can issue cards itself on its own BINs. It says it can support partners in more than 100 markets. Guo said the recent acquisition by Payward opens up extra possibilities, including possible access to yield, tokenized equities, and trading.
Why Local Stablecoins Matter
The plans fit into a broader shift toward stablecoins that are not only pegged to the dollar. In Latin America, interest in local tokens is growing, partly because companies and consumers there more often deal with exchange-rate swings and high costs for cross-border payments. Reap says money flows between currency corridors in emerging markets can carry costs of 5% to 7%.
Guo also said stablecoin payments still happen almost entirely in dollars for now, even when the underlying trade is local. According to Reap, a peso stablecoin can help move money outside banking hours and manage currency risk better, without stablecoins being used only for crypto trading or dollar settlement. That lines up with the broader debate over how stablecoins are backed and regulated in Latin America, where the question is not just adoption but also where the reserves are held.
Visa and Reap Split the Roles
Visa does not see blockchain settlement as a replacement for the existing payment system. According to Asia-Pacific president Stephen Karpin, the two are complementary. Visa provides the network side, while Reap handles regulated card issuance, customer checks, bank relationships, and compliance.
Reap says its card and payment volume rose 33% year over year in the first half of 2026, after revenue and volume tripled in 2025. The company did not give a timeline for the launch of the peso stablecoin and also did not name any intended issuers for the other currencies.
