Pine Labs will launch a stablecoin-backed prepaid card across nine countries in
the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia by the end of April,
the fintech firm’s chief executive told Reuters, marking the
first attempt by an Indian payments major to tap the
fast-growing market.
The Temasek and Peak XV-backed company aims to launch in
countries that have a “stablecoin-friendly stance”, Amrish Rau
said in an interview on Friday, without specifying which
countries they would launch in.
Pine Labs does not plan to launch the product in India or
China, Rau said.
The prepaid card, funded with stablecoins from consumers’
digital wallets, will enable payments in local currencies
through real-time conversion at the point of sale, the CEO said.
Global payment firms Stripe, PayPal and Klarna
are already using stablecoins to facilitate
cross-border payments as the instruments gain wider acceptance
in emerging markets, topping $310 billion in market value, led
by U.S. dollar-pegged tokens Tether and USDC.
“Cross-border payments potentially are getting replaced
today by stablecoins… these are very real trends which are
taking off globally and we are absolutely building for it,” Pine
Labs’ Rau said.
The firm’s plan to launch the stablecoin-backed prepaid
card, the first such initiative by a listed Indian firm, has not
been reported previously.
While India does not prohibit stablecoins, the local central
bank has cautioned the instruments could weaken monetary policy
management and promote illegal payments. Indian banks and
payments firms such as Walmart-backed PhonePe and
Paytm do not offer stablecoin-backed payments.
China last month banned unauthorised offshore issuance of
yuan-pegged stablecoins and is cracking down on virtual
currencies.
TECH-FOCUSED APPROACH
Headquartered in India’s national capital region, Pine Labs
offers payment solutions including point-of-sale machines to
merchants for card payments.
The fintech firm’s shares have fallen about 28% since their
trading debut in November amid increased competition in the
digital payments sector, according to analysts.
Pine Labs has been expanding its footprint with clients in
about 20 countries, with the overseas business adding up to
about 17% of its revenue, Rau said. The firm’s gross revenue
rose 24% on year to 7.44 billion rupees ($81.4 million) in the
December quarter.
The firm seeks to focus on AI-based payments, cross-border
expansion and stablecoin experiments, Rau said.
“All tech companies are into stablecoins, they are into AI,
they are into cross-border. That’s the way to go… If you don’t
capture that opportunity, Indian fintechs are going to get left
behind.”
Published on March 2, 2026
