When a tourist from Bangkok taps a phone to pay for lunch in Singapore, the last thing on their mind is which digital token quietly settles the bill. For Singapore-based StraitsX, that invisibility is the point.
StraitsX — the stablecoin infrastructure provider working behind a growing number of regional crypto cards — says the technology powering those everyday transactions is finally maturing into something ordinary. Between Q4 2024 and Q4 2025 the company’s card transaction volume jumped 40x, and the number of cards issued rose 83-fold, co-founder and CEO Tianwei Liu told CoinDesk. Those headline figures reflect one of Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing stablecoin card programs — and a wider boom in crypto-backed payments.
A rising tide, not a lone outlier
Some of the raw multiples are explained by timing: a major BIN sponsorship partnership with RedotPay only soft‑launched in late 2024, leaving a low base for year‑on‑year comparisons. But the surge sits within an industry-wide trend. Artemis Analytics estimates global crypto card monthly volumes climbed from roughly $100 million in early 2023 to more than $1.5 billion by late 2025 — a compound annual growth rate of about 106%. On‑chain card spending tracked on Dune Analytics jumped 420% during 2025, from about $23 million in January to $120 million in December. Visa accounted for over 90% of that on‑chain volume; its stablecoin‑linked card spend alone hit a $3.5 billion annualized run rate by Q4 2025, a 460% year‑over‑year rise.
RedotPay, one of StraitsX’s BIN sponsorship partners, processed more than $2.95 billion in card volume in 2025 — reportedly more than four times the combined volume of its 13 nearest competitors. Those numbers place StraitsX’s plumbing at the center of a dominant player’s infrastructure.
How it works — and why users don’t notice
StraitsX doesn’t chase consumers. Instead it builds settlement rails that let partners issue Visa‑branded cards. Acting as a BIN sponsor, StraitsX enables firms such as RedotPay and UPay to issue cards that customers tap, scan, or swipe. Behind the scenes, stablecoins settle transactions in real time and merchants receive local currency instantly.
“No user cares about whether a payment runs on stablecoins or fiat; they only care if the payment goes through,” Liu said. That philosophy — make the stablecoin layer invisible — is central to the company’s strategy. To date StraitsX has processed nearly $30 billion in cumulative stablecoin transactions.
Scaling micropayments and high‑speed rails
StraitsX plans to push further into technical innovation. By the end of March it expects to launch its XSGD and XUSD stablecoins natively on Solana in partnership with the Solana Foundation, adopting the x402 standard designed for machine‑to‑machine micropayments. Liu argues that when fees approach zero, payments can become continuous and embedded — “more like internet data flows” — enabling tiny, frequent transfers that weren’t practical on higher‑cost rails.
XSGD already dominates the non‑USD stablecoin market in Southeast Asia with over 70% market share and a 1:1 peg to the Singapore dollar backed by monthly audits. That peg gained practical significance earlier this year when the Singapore dollar reached an 11‑year high against the U.S. dollar.
Cross‑border corridors and real use cases
StraitsX is moving beyond Singapore. Under Project BLOOM — a regulatory initiative from the Monetary Authority of Singapore — StraitsX will power a Thailand–Singapore corridor. The rollout lets Thai travelers scan QR codes in Singapore with KBank’s Q Wallet; payments convert between Thailand’s Q‑money and XSGD in the background so travelers and merchants transact in their familiar currencies. Liu says integrations with existing wallets like GrabPay and Alipay+ required no user retraining, yet StraitsX has observed a 400% rise in merchant transaction volume and a sixfold increase in unique transacting users month‑over‑month after such rollouts. Similar launches are planned for Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Payments evolve, but the experience stays the same
Visa, a key partner, frames stablecoin cards as a natural evolution. Adeline Kim, Visa’s Singapore and Brunei country manager, told CoinDesk that stablecoin‑backed cards preserve customer protections like chargebacks and fiat settlement. “It’s like driving an electric car versus a car that runs on fuel on the same highway,” she said. “The vehicle is different, but the road signs, toll booths, and rules don’t change.” Kim expects future card offerings to layer in real‑time insights, cross‑border perks and behavior‑driven rewards.
The business case is clear: remittances and cross‑border spending remain costly — the World Bank estimates sending $200 internationally still costs about 6.49% on average — and stablecoins can materially lower those fees. Full‑stack issuers that manage settlement and principal membership, like Rain and Reap, have also scaled rapidly (annualized volumes reported at over $3 billion and $6 billion respectively), underscoring demand.
The question ahead
The biggest test for the sector is whether eye‑watering early growth will persist once the novelty fades and competition shifts to features, rewards and pricing. For Liu, success looks simple: make the payments rails so seamless that no one notices them. “The best stablecoin infrastructure,” he says, “is one people don’t see — the transaction just works.”
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