Invest Independently confirmed 2 publishers 2 min read Published Oct 9, 2026, 8:14 AM PDT Updated Oct 11, 2026, 2:33 AM PDT

SoFi Tech Solutions takes on issuing and compliance for Orbi's crypto-linked Mastercard in Mexico

SoFi Tech Solutions will sponsor and process a Mastercard for Mexico's Orbi that turns customers' crypto balances into fiat at checkout. Where SoFi's SoFiUSD stablecoin sits in each purchase decides who earns on the card.

The Investor · Invest desk

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Illustration accompanying SoFi Tech Solutions takes on issuing and compliance for Orbi's crypto-linked Mastercard in Mexico — Generated illustration

Orbi's crypto card leans on SoFi end to end How the Orbi Mastercard in Mexico reaches each party, from card sponsorship and processing to how merchants and customers are paid and spend.

What it limits constraint Orbi Depends on SoFi Tech Solutions for BIN sponsorship, issuing, authorisation, processing and compliance, claim 3
Who's exposed exposure SoFi Tech Solutions Its SoFiUSD stablecoin is part of the card solution, claim 4
What's now possible capability Mastercard Its Mexico Domestic Switch carries card purchases and ATM cash withdrawals via SoFi's connection, claim 13
Who's exposed exposure Merchants in Mexico Receive fiat, as customers' crypto balances are converted at the point of sale, claim 2
What's now possible capability Orbi customers Can use their digital dollar holdings for everyday spending, claim 12
What it sets up precedent Other SoFi Tech clients Can use SoFi's platform modules independently or in combination, claim 16

Orbi's crypto card leans on SoFi end to end
Who	How	Kind	Claim
Orbi	Depends on SoFi Tech Solutions for BIN sponsorship, issuing, authorisation, processing and compliance	constraint	3
SoFi Tech Solutions	Its SoFiUSD stablecoin is part of the card solution	exposure	4
Mastercard	Its Mexico Domestic Switch carries card purchases and ATM cash withdrawals via SoFi's connection	capability	13
Merchants in Mexico	Receive fiat, as customers' crypto balances are converted at the point of sale	exposure	2
Orbi customers	Can use their digital dollar holdings for everyday spending	capability	12
Other SoFi Tech clients	Can use SoFi's platform modules independently or in combination	precedent	16

What happened

SoFi Tech Solutions' connection to Mastercard's Mexico Domestic Switch will carry the card's purchases and ATM cash withdrawals, thepaypers reported.
Orbi co-founder Leonardo Perez said the collaboration with SoFi Tech Solutions and Mastercard has deepened since the company's early days.
Bitso data cited in the release put stablecoins at 40% of its users' crypto purchases in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and Colombia in 2025, against 18% for bitcoin.
SoFi Tech Solutions says nearly 200 clients use its platform and that its technology supports about 135 million accounts.

Why it matters

What's now possible capability Merchants keep their existing checkout and get paid in fiat, so Orbi customers can spend crypto wherever the card is accepted in Mexico without any merchant agreeing to take crypto.
Who's exposed exposure Orbi has placed BIN sponsorship, issuing, authorisation, processing and compliance with one vendor, so its card program depends on SoFi Tech Solutions keeping every one of those in place.
What it sets up precedent SoFi sells its modules separately or together, so the Orbi build of sponsorship, MxDS access and SoFiUSD is a package other Latin American clients could order next.

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Confirmed3 publishers

Every crypto-funded purchase on the Orbi card includes a sale. The cardholder's crypto balance is converted at the point of sale and the merchant receives fiat ^[2], so somebody buys that crypto, at some price, each time the card is used that way. The companies did not disclose fees, the conversion spread or who takes the other side of the trade.

SoFiUSD is the piece that would show who earns. Mastercard's Silvana Hernández, North Division President for Latin America, said the partnership enables stablecoin settlement, according to thepaypers ^[7]. The release, as quoted by PYMNTS, said: "Partnering with SoFi and its SoFiUSD stablecoin provided a unique solution that brought all the components together" ^[6]. Both accounts still describe a purchase that ends with fiat at the merchant ^[2].

The record fits more than one design. In one, SoFiUSD is the digital dollar Orbi customers hold and the card spends it, so SoFi supplies the balance as well as the processing. Orbi describes the card as extending customers' digital dollar holdings to everyday spending ^[12]. In another, SoFiUSD moves between the program and Mastercard as the settlement asset, the version Hernández described ^[7]. In a third, the coin is mainly how money crosses into Mexico. Kathleen Pierce-Gilmore, President of SoFi Tech Solutions, pointed to that one. "Mexico is one of the world's largest remittance markets, and stablecoins are becoming an increasingly important way to move money across its borders," she said in the release ^[8].

I think the card as described is a debit product funded by crypto balances, with SoFiUSD somewhere in the stack. A stablecoin-settled template for Latin America needs the second design. Pierce-Gilmore puts that in the future tense: the partners are "laying the foundation for stablecoin-powered payments and cross-border money movement at scale," she said ^[9]. A disclosure that Orbi purchases settle between SoFi and Mastercard in SoFiUSD would prove this view wrong.

The demand evidence is stronger than the settlement evidence. Among Bitso's users in the four markets, stablecoins' share of crypto purchases was about 2.2 times bitcoin's ^[17]. PYMNTS reported that 71% of stablecoin holders said they would use a linked debit card to spend those assets ^[19].

For SoFi Tech Solutions, the former Galileo ^[1], Orbi is one program on a large book. Its client and account counts ^[14] work out to roughly 675,000 accounts per client on average ^[18]. The platform pairs Galileo's payments and processing with Technisys' core banking ^[15].

What to watch

A statement from SoFi or Mastercard that Orbi card purchases settle between the program and the network in SoFiUSD.
A second fintech in Mexico or elsewhere in Latin America signing for the same BIN sponsorship, MxDS link and SoFiUSD combination.
Orbi's launch date and cardholder numbers, and any published conversion spread or fee on crypto-funded purchases.

Information, not investment advice. This story is general information about companies and markets, drawn from cited reporting. It is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security; check the cited sources before acting.

Clarity's read

What the record supports and how the coverage leans. The claims behind it follow.

Reality

Evidence45
Adoption: Not scored
Hype gap+25
Incentives75
Confidence55

Why these scores

Claim ledger

Ranked by verification strength, evidence, and original report placement.

[1]
SoFi Tech Solutions, formerly Galileo, has partnered with Mexico-based fintech Orbi and Mastercard to introduce a crypto-linked card programme for Orbi customers.
Reported Supported Source: thepaypers.comView cited source
[2]
Customers can pay with physical and virtual cards using fiat currency or funds from their crypto balances, which are converted at the point of sale so that merchants receive fiat currency.
Reported Supported Source: thepaypers.com; also reported by PYMNTSView cited source
[3]
SoFi Tech Solutions will provide the BIN sponsorship and financial technology infrastructure for the Orbi card program, including issuing, transaction authorization, processing and compliance.
Reported Supported Source: PYMNTS, citing the releaseView cited source
[4]
The solution involves SoFi's SoFiUSD stablecoin.
Reported Supported Source: thepaypers.comView cited source
[5]
The platform will also support future stablecoin-powered use cases.
Reported Supported Source: PYMNTS, quoting the releaseView cited source
[6]
"Partnering with SoFi and its SoFiUSD stablecoin provided a unique solution that brought all the components together"
Reported Supported Source: The release, as quoted by PYMNTSView cited source
[7]
Silvana Hernández, North Division President for Mastercard LATAM, stated that the partnership enables stablecoin settlement while connecting digital assets to payment experiences people already use.
Reported Supported Source: thepaypers.com, reported speechView cited source
[8]
"Mexico is one of the world's largest remittance markets, and stablecoins are becoming an increasingly important way to move money across its borders,"
Reported Supported Source: Kathleen Pierce-Gilmore, President of SoFi Tech Solutions, in the release, via PYMNTSView cited source
[9]
"Together with Orbi and Mastercard, we are giving people in Mexico a trusted way to receive, hold and spend digital dollars, while laying the foundation for stablecoin-powered payments and cross-border money movement at scale."
Reported Supported Source: Kathleen Pierce-Gilmore, President of SoFi Tech Solutions, in the release, via PYMNTSView cited source
[10]
Bitso data shows stablecoins accounted for 40% of crypto purchases among its users in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and Colombia in 2025, compared with 18% for bitcoin, the first time stablecoins overtook bitcoin in the exchange's regional purchase data.
Reported Supported Source: Bitso data cited in the release; reported by thepaypers.com and PYMNTSView cited source
[11]
Leonardo Perez, co-founder of Orbi, stated that the Orbi Mastercard results from a collaboration with SoFi Tech Solutions and Mastercard that has deepened since the company's early days.
Reported Supported Source: thepaypers.com, reported speechView cited source
[12]
For Orbi, the card extends the use of customers' digital dollar holdings to everyday spending.
Reported Supported Source: thepaypers.comView cited source
[13]
SoFi Tech Solutions' connection to Mastercard's domestic payment network in Mexico, Mexico Domestic Switch (MxDS), will support card purchases and ATM cash withdrawals.
Reported Supported Source: thepaypers.comView cited source
[14]
Nearly 200 clients use SoFi Tech Solutions, and its technology supports approximately 135 million accounts.
Reported Supported Source: According to the company, via thepaypers.comView cited source
[15]
SoFi Tech Solutions combines Galileo's more than 30 years of payments and processing expertise with Technisys' core banking capabilities.
Reported Supported Source: thepaypers.comView cited source
[16]
SoFi Tech Solutions' platform covers issuer processing and cards, payments and money movement including digital asset settlement, core and digital banking, lending, and fraud and risk management, which clients can use independently or in combination.
Reported Supported Source: thepaypers.comView cited source
[17]
Stablecoins' share of Bitso users' crypto purchases in the four markets was about 2.2 times bitcoin's share.
Derived Supported
[18]
SoFi Tech Solutions averages roughly 675,000 accounts per client.
Derived Supported
[19]
71% of stablecoin holders said they would use a linked debit card to spend those digital assets.
Reported Insufficient Source: PYMNTSView cited source
[20]
Linked cards can boost acceptance without asking merchants to change checkout.
Reported Insufficient Source: PYMNTSView cited source

Sources

2 independent publishers whose own reporting we read for this story.

pymnts.com
1 article · October 8, 2026
Mastercard and SoFi Help Orbi Launch Crypto Card in Mexico
thepaypers.com
1 article · October 9, 2026
SoFi Tech Solutions and Orbi to launch crypto-linked card in Mexico

Clarity analysis

How the coverage leans and what the record actually supports. Read the methodology

Perspective Coverage

How much of the coverage speaks to builders, operators and investors. It measures emphasis, not whether the story is right.

Builder

The useful detail is how the duties split. SoFi Tech Solutions holds the BIN sponsorship and runs issuing, authorization, processing and compliance. The Paypers adds that purchases and ATM withdrawals run over Mastercard's Mexico Domestic Switch. Crypto converts to fiat at the point of sale, so merchants see an ordinary card payment. Neither outlet says where SoFiUSD sits in that flow: as the balance customers hold, or as the settlement asset Mastercard's Silvana Hernández mentions.

Operator

Merchants change nothing. They receive fiat through normal Mastercard acceptance. The open questions for running the programme are the conversion spread, cardholder fees and how compliance on crypto-funded purchases is handled day to day. The release assigns compliance to SoFi Tech Solutions but does not include a fee schedule or a launch date.

Investor

The only scale figures describe SoFi Tech Solutions as a whole: nearly 200 clients and about 135 million accounts, or roughly 675,000 per client. Orbi's customer base was not disclosed. The demand case rests on Bitso's 2025 data, where stablecoins were 40% of purchases against 18% for bitcoin across four Latin American markets. It also rests on Mexico's remittance volume, which Kathleen Pierce-Gilmore invokes without a number.