Airtm and BVNK partner to expand wallet-native payments to emerging markets

Airtm's last-mile financial network combines with BVNK's enterprise stablecoin platform to enable seamless spending and funding for Global South users

LISBON, PORTUGAL, October 29, 2026: Airtm, the trusted last-mile financial network for the Global South, and stablecoin infrastructure provider BVNK, a Mastercard company, today announced a partnership that brings wallet-native payments to emerging markets.

The announcement, made today at the Stellar Meridian Conference, comes as Airtm launches Airtm Connect, which allows digital asset companies around the world, including BVNK, to build wallet connections with Airtm's global user base. Through the integration, Airtm users will be able to use funds held in their wallets to pay participating retailers enabled by BVNK, while also creating new ways to fund and receive money.

This partnership strengthens Airtm's position as the financial rails for underserved global markets by enabling Airtm users to pay participating retailers  directly from their wallets, removing friction that has long plagued the Global South's path to mainstream commerce. This means real access to global commerce.  

A wallet-native approach to global commerce

The partnership unites two distinct capabilities: Airtm's deep roots in emerging markets and trusted position as a last-mile network, and BVNK's proven stablecoin payment infrastructure and on-ramp connectivity across global banking corridors.

And with BVNK now part of Mastercard, Airtm will also have access to the recently launched  Mastercard Global Money Platform, a full-stack, modular infrastructure layer for fiat and stablecoin accounts, payments and money movement — while retaining the customer relationship and avoiding the complexity of integrating multiple providers.

The integration will leverage the Stellar blockchain, a high speed, low-cost payment rail which was recently added to the BVNK platform. 

"We believe payments should move natively on-chain - it’s simply a better way to move money. But origination is only half the story. For stablecoin payments to truly work, origination and destination need to be tightly connected. That’s why we’re excited to partner with BVNK," said Rubén Galindo Steckel, CEO of Airtm.

‍"BVNK has solved one of the hardest problems in fintech: reliable, compliant on-ramping at scale. At Airtm, we’ve spent the last decade building the destination layer for the global dollar economy. Together, we're closing the loop. The magic happens when users can fund it reliably and use it more easily in the real-world. That's what this partnership delivers. We're not just adding another integration. We're building the complete on-ramp-to-commerce flow that emerging market users have needed for years."

"We're excited to power Airtm's vision of wallet-native commerce," said Kimberly Mescal Julien, Global Head of Partnerships at BVNK. "Airtm Connect shows what's possible when fintech platforms stop thinking about wallets as silos and start treating them as distribution channels for real-world commerce. We're honored to be the infrastructure backbone."

Expanding financial infrastructure options

The partnership also expands Airtm's infrastructure ecosystem. BVNK's stablecoin payment capabilities add optionality to Airtm's existing financial infrastructure partners, allowing Airtm to serve customers across diverse funding paths and geographies. This flexibility is critical for a network that operates across multiple jurisdictions in the Global South, including markets where stablecoins are increasingly used as a payment and store of value option, and where regulatory certainty varies and liquidity corridors are fragmented.

"Our infrastructure strategy has always been about choice for Airtm and for our users," said Rubén Galindo Steckel, CEO of Airtm. "We're not betting on a single provider or payment rail. We're building a truly distributed last-mile network. BVNK strengthens that."

The partnership will begin rollout/ launch in Q4 2026.