Wirex and Ultra Stellar have announced the launch of a native Stellar payment infrastructure, built directly on Soroban, Stellar’s smart contract platform. This collaboration marks a significant milestone for the Stellar ecosystem, combining real-world payment capabilities with blockchain-native infrastructure into a single, unified layer.
With over 7 million global Wirex users and Ultra Stellar powering key products like LOBSTR and StellarX, the partnership is designed to support both existing users and the next generation of financial applications, including those driven by AI.
A sovereign payment layer built on Soroban
Unlike traditional integrations that rely on external bridges, this initiative focuses on building directly on-chain. Wirex and Ultra Stellar are co-developing an infrastructure that is native to the Stellar network by combining Wirex’s global licensing and Visa/banking integrations with Ultra Stellar’s deep technical expertise.
The result is a complete, production-ready financial stack that allows developers to embed banking functionality directly into their products without relying on fragmented external solutions.
Core capabilities of the new Stellar infrastructure
- Stablecoin-powered virtual accounts: Users and businesses can manage, receive, and store stablecoins through accounts designed for real-world usability
- 1:1 fiat–stablecoin conversion: Instant movement between fiat and stablecoins at true 1:1 value, removing traditional exchange spreads and friction
- Global card issuing: Stablecoin-powered cards usable at over 80 million merchants worldwide, enabling direct spending from Stellar-native balances
- International payouts and settlement: Full support for major global rails, including ACH, SEPA, PIX, FPS, SWIFT, and push-to-card
- On-chain yield: Users can earn up to 6% APY on stablecoin balances through secure infrastructure with full liquidity and no lock-up periods
The vision for “agentic” finance
The infrastructure is engineered to support autonomous AI agents, allowing them to perform seamless, global transactions programmatically.
Pavel Matveev, CEO and Co-Founder of Wirex, noted that the goal is to make Stellar a leading ecosystem for stablecoin-powered payments, where cards, bank accounts, and yield are all connected through a unified on-chain layer.
Gleb Pitsevich, Founder of Ultra Stellar, emphasized that this evolution allows millions of users to access real-world financial capabilities directly on-chain, positioning Stellar as one of the first ecosystems to offer a fully native, comprehensive payment stack.
