Wirex and Ultra Stellar Launch Native Payment Infrastructure for On-Chain Banking and AI Commerce

A Unified Financial Layer for Stellar

Wirex and Ultra Stellar have announced the launch of a native payment infrastructure built directly on Soroban, the smart contract platform for the Stellar network. This collaboration unites Wirex’s global banking connectivity with Ultra Stellar’s deep ecosystem expertise to create a single, unified financial layer. The initiative is designed to support more than 7 million Wirex users and the millions of individuals already using Ultra Stellar products like LOBSTR and StellarX. This partnership was born out of a mutual need to bridge the gap between on-chain assets and traditional financial systems. While Wirex holds the necessary licenses and global integrations with Visa and Mastercard, Ultra Stellar provides the essential native infrastructure and user interfaces required for deep adoption within the Stellar ecosystem. Neither entity could have achieved this level of integration alone, as the project required a combination of regulated banking rails and specialized blockchain engineering that is native to the network.

Complete Payment Stack Features

The new infrastructure introduces a production-ready suite of financial tools. Users can access stablecoin-powered virtual bank accounts and benefit from 1:1 fiat-to-stablecoin conversions without spreads. Additionally, the platform supports global co-branded card issuance, allowing users to spend their stablecoin balances at over 80 million merchant locations worldwide. This ensures that digital assets are as liquid and usable as traditional currency in everyday transactions. Built on Soroban, the infrastructure ensures full interoperability with existing Stellar wallets and decentralized applications. By operating natively on-chain, developers can now embed financial services such as ACH, SEPA, and SWIFT payouts directly into their own products. This approach removes the friction of relying on external third-party APIs, creating a more stable and efficient environment for fintech innovation.

Empowering the AI Economy

A significant focus of the launch is the support for autonomous AI agents and programmatic commerce. Traditional banking systems often struggle with the requirements of automated software interactions, but this native layer allows AI agents to manage their own virtual accounts and settle global transactions 24/7. This positions Stellar as a leading blockchain for machine-to-machine micropayments and automated financial management. Wirex CEO Pavel Matveev stated that the goal is to make Stellar a premier destination for stablecoin-powered payments where cards, bank accounts, and yield are seamlessly connected. Gleb Pitsevich, Founder of Ultra Stellar, added that the collaboration allows developers to access real-world financial capabilities directly on-chain. This milestone follows Wirex reaching $1 billion in annualized on-chain volume, marking a period of rapid growth for the stablecoin infrastructure provider.