Oobit Expands to US Market
Oobit, the crypto payments application that’s backed by Tether, is officially launching in the United States. This marks what might be their most significant expansion so far. American users will now be able to connect their existing self-custody wallets—things like MetaMask, Trust Wallet, and Base—to pay directly at any checkout that accepts Visa, anywhere in the world.
It’s a payment experience that hasn’t really been available to US consumers before. The idea is to let people make actual crypto payments straight from the wallets they already use, without needing to move funds into a custodial service first.
The Long-Standing Spending Problem
For a while now, crypto has worked fairly well for storing value and sending it around. But when it comes to everyday spending, it’s often fallen short. People could hold assets, trade them, send them to friends, but actually using crypto to buy a coffee or pay for groceries has been clunky at best.
“Stablecoins are ready, wallets are ready, finally, real money gets used,” said Oobit CEO Amram Adar. He mentioned that crypto promised financial freedom, but Americans kept hitting a wall at checkout. Oobit was built to address that specific gap. Adar compared the shift to watching ChatGPT in its early days, suggesting the change in how money works could come faster than many expect.
How the System Works
Oobit’s approach tries to simplify things. It enables payments from any Web3 wallet without requiring custodial transfers, without needing merchants to onboard specifically for crypto, and without adding layers of complexity for the user. The company has partnered with Bakkt, a publicly listed US digital asset firm, to handle the regulated infrastructure across all 50 states.
Bakkt provides the licensing and compliance framework, while Oobit focuses on the technology, user experience, and the on-chain settlement layer. Together, they’re creating what they call the first wallet-agnostic crypto payment solution available nationwide in the US.
Akshay Naheta, CEO of Bakkt, said their infrastructure is built for scale and stability, and their compliance framework positions them well to support Oobit’s launch.
Regulatory Context and User Experience
The GENIUS Act provided some regulatory clarity for stablecoins in the US, which was an important step. But clarity alone doesn’t make crypto spendable at real merchants for everyday things. That’s the gap Oobit is trying to close.
Technically, Oobit converts regulated stablecoin value into instant fiat currency at the point of sale. The user pays directly from their wallet, and the merchant receives fiat immediately. Users keep control of their assets until the moment they actually make a payment.
The company emphasizes straightforward economics—no hidden spreads, no staking requirements, no token-gated tiers. Just crypto that behaves more like regular money when you want to spend it. Whether this truly simplifies the experience for average users remains to be seen, but it’s certainly an attempt to bridge that persistent gap between holding crypto and actually using it.
