SoFi Tech Solutions, Orbi, and Mastercard Partner to Launch Crypto-Linked Card in Mexico

SoFi Tech Solutions, formerly known as Galileo, has announced a strategic partnership with Mexican fintech startup Orbi and global payments giant Mastercard to introduce a groundbreaking cryptocurrency-linked card program in Mexico. The innovative offering is designed to bridge the gap between traditional fiat currency and digital assets, allowing Orbi’s customer base to seamlessly utilize both standard currency and balances held in cryptocurrencies at the point of sale. Through a real-time conversion mechanism, consumers can spend their digital assets effortlessly, while merchants receive traditional fiat currency without needing to alter their existing payment processing infrastructure.

The launch comes at a time when digital assets are gaining unprecedented traction across Latin America. According to regional purchasing data released by Bitso, stablecoins accounted for 40 percent of all cryptocurrency purchases among users in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, and Colombia in 2025. This marked a significant milestone as stablecoins officially surpassed Bitcoin, which registered 18 percent over the same period, representing the first time stablecoins outpaced BTC in regional purchase metrics. This shift underscores a growing consumer preference for stable, digital representations of fiat currency in everyday economic activity, particularly in markets heavily reliant on cross-border transactions and remittances.

Under the terms of the new agreement, SoFi Tech Solutions will provide the foundational Bank Identification Number (BIN) sponsorship and the core financial technology infrastructure required to power Orbi’s card program. This robust technological backing encompasses card issuance, transaction authorization, backend processing, and comprehensive regulatory compliance. The collaboration with SoFi and its stablecoin ecosystem offered a unified, comprehensive solution that successfully integrated all necessary operational components. Furthermore, the underlying platform has been architected to support future use cases centered around stablecoins, ensuring long-term scalability and adaptability for Orbi’s expanding financial services portfolio.

Kathleen Pierce-Gilmore, President of SoFi Tech Solutions, emphasized the strategic importance of the Mexican market and the rising utility of digital currencies. Mexico stands as one of the largest remittance markets globally, and stablecoins are rapidly emerging as an increasingly vital corridor for moving money across international borders. Alongside partners like Orbi and Mastercard, the initiative aims to provide individuals in Mexico with a secure, reliable method to receive, hold, and spend digital dollars. Simultaneously, the project lays the critical groundwork for broader, stablecoin-backed payments and large-scale cross-border transfers that can transform the regional financial landscape.

The technological framework behind the partnership enables Orbi’s clients to execute transactions using both physical and virtual cards linked directly to their cryptocurrency holdings. During a purchase, the system converts the necessary digital funds dynamically at the payment terminal, ensuring the transaction settles seamlessly in traditional currency for the merchant. To facilitate this, SoFi Tech Solutions leverages its direct connection to Mastercard’s domestic payment network in Mexico, known as the Mexico Domestic Switch, or MxDS. This integration ensures that card purchases and cash withdrawals at automated teller machines are processed with the speed, efficiency, and reliability expected of modern payment systems.

Leonardo Pérez, co-founder of Orbi, highlighted that the introduction of the Orbi Mastercard is the direct result of a close and enduring collaboration with SoFi Tech Solutions and Mastercard, an alliance that has continued to strengthen since the fintech’s inception. The company is actively building an experience that translates digital dollars into tangible purchasing power within the real-economy ecosystem, offering people in Mexico a familiar and intuitive way to utilize their digital assets anywhere Mastercard is accepted worldwide.

Echoing these sentiments, Silvana Hernández, President of the Northern Division for Mastercard LATAM, pointed out that digital assets are becoming an increasingly integral component of how individuals safeguard and move their wealth. The primary opportunity for industry leaders lies in making the use of these assets as straightforward, intuitive, and trustworthy as conventional payment methods. By collaborating with SoFi Tech Solutions and Orbi, Mastercard is actively enabling stablecoin settlement while successfully connecting digital assets with everyday consumer payment experiences, all backed by the robust security and extensive acceptance of the Mastercard network.

Bringing SoFi’s US Financial Technology Expertise to Latin America

The launch in Mexico also marks a broader strategic expansion, bringing the extensive financial technology experience that SoFi has cultivated in building, operating, and scaling digital financial services in the United States directly into the Latin American market. This specialized capability is further enhanced by Galileo’s more than thirty-year track record in payment processing and the advanced core banking architecture developed by Technisys. Together, these combined technological assets empower financial service providers throughout the region to develop deeply connected, digitally focused products engineered specifically to meet the rapidly evolving demands of their modern customer bases.

The comprehensive platform provides financial institutions and fintech innovators with modular access to advanced capabilities, allowing clients to utilize these services either independently or in fully integrated combinations depending on their strategic objectives. This flexibility establishes a clear, adaptable pathway for modernization, enabling businesses to upgrade their systems at their own pace and scale smoothly as their operations and customer requirements continue to grow and evolve across the dynamic Latin American financial ecosystem.