Card issuing platforms are the processors and program managers that let a company issue debit, prepaid, credit or virtual cards through a bank and a card network. Marqeta, Lithic, Highnote, Thredd, SoFi Tech Solutions (formerly Galileo), i2c, Stripe Issuing, Adyen Issuing, Nium and Airwallex differ on card types, networks, regions, whether they manage the bank relationship, and whether they publish prices. Only Stripe publishes per-card fees.
What a card issuing platform does
Three roles sit behind a card program. The issuing bank holds the network license and issues the card. The issuer processor handles authorization, clearing and settlement and exposes the card API. The program manager designs the program and carries the bank’s and the network’s requirements. Highnote’s glossary draws that line for its own platform: “Highnote is not the issuer of record.” It describes itself as an issuer processor working for a sponsor bank, and separately offers end-to-end card program management.
Marqeta’s Form 10-K for 2025 splits its offering into four levels: processing, bank and network management, program management, and value added services. “Marqeta provides all of its customers with issuer processor services as our core offering,” the filing says, and the bank and network management option connects a customer to an issuing bank that acts as BIN sponsor. Its Q2 2026 quarterly report adds that “for most of its customers it also acts as a card program manager.”
Selection criteria for a processor, from authorization response windows to BIN portability, sit in how to choose an issuer processor. For the mechanics of a program on a deposit or prepaid account, see debit card issuing; for card-number-only programs, virtual card issuance.
The platforms at a glance
The order of rows carries no meaning. Each cell repeats what the platform itself publishes, and gaps are marked as not published. More profiles are in the provider directory and the card issuing guides.
| Platform | Card types (as published) | Networks named | Regions named | Program management | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marqeta | Debit, prepaid, credit (consumer and commercial), virtual, physical | Visa, Mastercard | Certified in more than 40 countries; UK, Gibraltar and EEA through TransactPay’s e-money licenses | Optional tier; program manager for most customers | 10-K, 10-Q |
| Lithic | Debit, prepaid, charge and credit constructs, consumer and business | Visa, Mastercard | US; Canada since September 2024, with multicurrency processing | “Lithic Program Management” or “Processor Client” (own your bank relationship) | Lithic, docs |
| Highnote | Debit, prepaid, revolving credit, charge | Visa, Mastercard | US partner banks named; other countries not published | Yes | Highnote, docs |
| Thredd | Debit, prepaid, virtual, physical; US credit “launching in the coming months” as of March 2026 | Visa, Mastercard; Visa and STAR on US dual-branded debit | Clients across 47 countries (March 2026); offices in London, Singapore, Sydney and Austin | Processing for program managers and self-issuers; BIN sponsorship through partner banks | Thredd, B4B |
| SoFi Tech Solutions (formerly Galileo) | Gift, secured, virtual, general purpose reloadable, prepaid, debit, contactless, fleet, rewards, payroll; consumer, small business, commercial; credit added in 2026 | Visa, Mastercard or Discover as primary network | Mastercard certification in Canada, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Peru, Chile, Uruguay and Argentina; Visa in Canada and Mexico | Yes | SoFi, docs |
| i2c | Credit, debit, prepaid (open-loop, closed-loop, payroll, travel, government benefits, earned wage access); consumer, commercial, government | Not published on pages reviewed | “operational readiness in 216+ countries and territories” (i2c’s own claim) | “Program management support” | i2c |
| Stripe Issuing | Prepaid, debit, charge and secured commercial cards; virtual and physical | Visa, Mastercard | Local issuing live in 22 countries (US, Canada, UK, EEA) | Program management or processing only | Stripe, docs |
| Adyen Issuing | Prepaid, debit and credit disclosure templates; virtual and physical | Visa, Mastercard | EEA, UK and US | Adyen N.V. is the issuer | docs |
| Nium | Prepaid and debit, for individuals and corporates | Visa, Mastercard | 30+ markets including the US, UK, EEA, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia | Issues under its own licenses | docs, Nium |
| Airwallex | Prepaid, debit, credit and deferred debit in the API; the default US program is commercial “good funds” credit | Visa | Issuance capabilities in more than 50 countries | Issues under its own programs | docs |
Banks, pricing and API documentation
| Platform | Issuing banks named publicly | Published pricing | API docs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marqeta | Sutton Bank, 58% of Q2 2026 volume | Not published | marqeta.com/docs |
| Lithic | Stearns Bank, Byline Bank, Lead Bank on one Visa program | Not published | docs.lithic.com |
| Highnote | CFSB and Sutton Bank in its co-brand docs | Not published | docs.highnote.com |
| Thredd | Sutton Bank for US prepaid and debit | Not published | docs.thredd.ai |
| SoFi Tech Solutions | Bank partners referenced but not named; SoFi Tech Solutions is itself a credit BIN sponsor in Mexico | Not published | docs.tech.sofi.com |
| i2c | Not published | Not published | No public reference; developer landing page only |
| Stripe Issuing | Celtic Bank, Cross River Bank, Fifth Third Bank and Sutton Bank in its US disclosures | Yes, see below | docs.stripe.com/issuing |
| Adyen Issuing | Adyen N.V. (issuer itself) | Not published | docs.adyen.com/issuing |
| Nium | Nium’s own licenses | Not published | docs.nium.com |
| Airwallex | Not named; Airwallex issues | Not published on pages reviewed | airwallex.com/docs/issuing |
Stripe’s published fees are per card: $0.10 for a virtual card and $3.50 for a standard physical card plus shipping, with the same figures as £0.10 and £3.50 in the UK and €0.10 and €3.50 in the EU, and custom cards priced separately (Stripe docs). On transactions, Stripe’s euro pricing page waives card transaction fees for the first €500,000 in volume, then charges “0.2% + €0.20 per transaction after that”. The UK page states the £500,000 waiver; the rate after it was not captured, and no US Issuing transaction fee was found on the pages reviewed. Adyen’s pricing page says only that products besides payment methods are priced separately.
Sutton Bank shows up in four of these programs, at Marqeta, Thredd, Stripe and in Highnote’s co-brand materials. Concentration on one sponsor is a diligence item: see how to choose a sponsor bank and the sponsor bank enforcement actions tracker.
Marqeta by the numbers
Marqeta is the only platform here that files with the SEC, so its volume, customer and bank concentration are public.
| Period | Total processing volume | Block share of net revenue | Sutton Bank share of volume |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | $222.3B | 68% | 76% |
| 2024 | $291.1B | 47% | 70% |
| 2025 | $382.5B | 45% | 64% |
| Q2 2026 | $120.4B | 41% (largest customer) | 58% |
The annual figures come from the FY2025 10-K and the 2025 annual report, which also states that the current term for the Cash App and Square Debit Card programs expires in June 2028. The quarterly figures come from the Q2 2026 10-Q, which attributes 41% of net revenue to one customer, identified as Block in the 10-K. Marqeta’s Q2 2026 results also reported net revenue of $176 million, up 17%, and GAAP net income of $8 million.
What changed in 2025 and 2026
Stablecoin settlement appears in five of these programs; background sits in stablecoin infrastructure.
- Marqeta. Completed its TransactPay acquisition on July 31, 2025 and settled the earn-outs for about $2.7 million in April 2026. On August 4, 2026 it said it “has partnered with zerohash and BVNK to enable stablecoin spending across global card networks”, and that Expensify used its multinational issuing for a corporate card in Europe. See stablecoin backed cards from Marqeta and BVNK.
- Lithic. Named Stearns Bank as BIN sponsor for its program-managed services on January 27, 2026, launched a native consumer revolving credit ledger on March 31, 2026, and was named a partner by Byline Bank on July 27, 2026. On August 5, 2026 it said it powers Lightspark’s Visa program issued by Lead Bank, which settles in USDC, and on August 13, 2026 it announced a partnership with Monavate, an FCA-authorized e-money institution with principal membership at Mastercard, Visa and Discover.
- Highnote. Completed a $100 million Series B in January 2025, later extended by $25 million. In 2026 it added an OatFi integration for B2B charge card funding (January 21), commercial virtual cards for online travel with wholesale travel BINs (April 30) and agentic commerce capabilities built with Visa Intelligent Commerce (May 27).
- Thredd. On March 9, 2026 it said “a fully cloud-native version of its global platform is live in the United States”, deployed on Visa and Mastercard cloud infrastructure, with credit to follow. Sutton Bank became a BIN sponsor for its US prepaid and debit clients on June 17, 2026; Visa Cloud Connect went live in Asia Pacific through Singapore on June 24, 2026; a September 23, 2026 release announced stablecoin money movement with Velocity, starting with B2B and B2B2B programs.
- SoFi Tech Solutions. “This year we are transitioning from Galileo to SoFi Tech Solutions,” the company said on April 29, 2026. In its Q2 2026 results SoFi reported Technology Platform-enabled accounts down 16% year over year to 135 million after a large client fully left the platform before December 31, 2025, segment net revenue of $84.5 million, and new credit card, line of credit, BNPL and installment capabilities.
- i2c. On May 14, 2026 it announced a crypto debit card program with CoinZoom for customers across more than 152 countries.
- Stripe. Bridge, acquired by Stripe in February 2025, launched stablecoin-linked Visa cards with Lead Bank as financial institution partner on April 30, 2025; Visa said on March 3, 2026 that they were live in 18 countries. Stripe’s docs list stablecoin-backed prepaid and debit cards in private preview in more than 30 countries across Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa.
Platforms that are also the licensed issuer
Three platforms here do not sit behind a sponsor bank. Adyen Issuing is supported in the EEA, the UK and the US, and Adyen N.V. is the issuer, through its London Branch in the UK and its San Francisco Branch in the US, which Adyen describes as a federal branch licensed by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. Its US disclosure templates cover prepaid, debit and credit cards on Visa and Mastercard.
Nium issues prepaid and debit cards to individuals and corporates under its own licenses on Visa and Mastercard, in more than 30 markets. Airwallex issues on Visa, reports issuance capabilities in more than 50 countries, and documents prepaid, debit, credit and deferred debit programs, with commercial “good funds” credit as the default US program. None of the three publishes issuing prices.
