Cryptocurrency pockets firm Tangem has launched Tangem Pay, a digital Visa card that connects on to {hardware} wallets, permitting customers to spend stablecoins at tens of millions of retailers world wide.
The paycard, co-founded with US funds infrastructure firm Paera, permits customers to deposit and spend Circle’s USDC stablecoin on the Polygon community, the corporate stated in an announcement on Wednesday.
“As soon as a consumer deposits cash into their Tangem Pay account, they’ll spend it anyplace Visa is accepted, whatever the native foreign money,” stated Tangem Pay CEO Marcos Nunez, noting that the answer helps Apple Pay and Google Pay for immediate Visa funds.
42 international locations plan to roll out Tangem Pay playing cards at scale
The Tangem Pay card will start issuing in late November in key markets within the US, Latin America and Asia Pacific, with a deliberate launch in Europe in 2026.
The preliminary rollout will cowl 42 international locations together with Australia, Brazil, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the US.
“The digital card is only the start. We’re already engaged on increasing into new international locations and offering incentives to make this card the go-to card for customers’ each day spending,” Nunes stated.
Tangem describes the pay card as a central element of a broader imaginative and prescient for a complete self-custodial crypto ecosystem that features storage, progress, and spending. In contrast to custodial wallets, self-custodial choices have the additional benefit of offering customers with direct possession of their cryptocurrencies with out the necessity to adjust to KYC obligations.
Crypto playing cards centered across the Tangem {hardware} pockets perform as chilly wallets, following “be your individual financial institution” pointers. Nevertheless, Tangem Pay accounts are nonetheless regulated by KYC rules. Tangem itself has no entry to consumer information and KYC is simply required for pay card balances. If a consumer is blacklisted or concerned in legal exercise, companion regulators monitoring compliance could disconnect the cardboard from the cost community with out compromising the {hardware} pockets.
Rain manages compliance and funds for Tangem Pay, a stablecoin funds infrastructure supplier. Rain just lately revealed plans to combine with Western Union’s upcoming stablecoin-based cost system. Formally introduced in late October, Western Union’s Solana-based digital asset community will characteristic the corporate’s proprietary stablecoin and is anticipated to launch within the first half of 2026.
International stablecoin oversight guides Tangem Pay performance
Pay card performance is topic to ongoing international regulatory developments. Digital tokens pegged to fiat currencies, generally known as stablecoins, have attracted the eye of regulators because of considerations about potential dangers to monetary stability, client safety, and anti-money laundering (AML) compliance.
In the US, the GENIUS Act of 2025 established a federal definition of “cost stablecoin.” The regulation additionally requires issuers to take care of full reserves of liquid property, publish month-to-month disclosures, and prohibit deceptive advertising and marketing that means authorities help. Moreover, it helps resolve the issue that federally regulated stablecoins are neither securities nor financial institution deposits, offering authorized predictability for each issuers and customers.
Regulators worldwide are paying consideration. (e.g. the EU’s MiCA framework, the UK’s plans for a selected regulatory regime for stablecoins, and steering from worldwide our bodies such because the FSB and FATF) concentrate on transparency, operational resilience and cross-border coordination. That is notably essential for Tangem Pay, which operates in 42 markets with in depth rules governing reserve necessities, client safety, and AML compliance.
