Payward-owned Reap Plans Peso Stablecoin and Eyes Four More Local-Currency Tokens for 24/7 FX

Reap, the Hong Kong-based fintech owned by Kraken parent Payward, is preparing to add a Mexican peso stablecoin to its card, cross-border payments and treasury products, with its founder confirming plans to explore tokens pegged to the Hong Kong dollar, euro, South Korean won and Japanese yen. The expansion runs through Reap’s global stablecoin partnership with Visa, under which Reap operates as a Visa Principal Issuer Member (VPIM) in Hong Kong and Mexico, handling regulated card issuance, compliance and bank relationships while Visa provides network-level settlement.

The commercial logic centres on a structural gap: public blockchains run continuously, but conventional foreign exchange still operates within banking hours and relies on correspondent banking chains that can take days and extract fees of five to seven per cent in cross-border corridors, according to Reap founder Daren Guo. Because roughly 99 per cent of stablecoin payment volume is dollar-denominated even when the underlying commercial activity is in local currencies, Reap is positioning non-USD tokens as a tool for companies managing foreign-exchange exposure outside banking hours rather than purely as a crypto-trading instrument.

Guo did not provide a rollout timetable for any of the additional currency tokens, nor did he name prospective issuers. He noted that Reap’s acquisition by Payward opens potential access to yield products, tokenised equities and trading capabilities. Reap reported card and payments volume growth of 33 per cent year over year in the first half of 2026, following a tripling of revenue and volume in 2025. Visa’s Asia-Pacific president Stephen Karpin framed the stablecoin work as complementary to traditional banking infrastructure rather than a replacement, emphasising interoperability with the broader financial system.