In brief
- Visa will allow partnered issuers and acquirers in the U.S. to settle with stablecoins, starting with USDC on Solana.
- The expansion follows its global pilots that began rolling out in 2023.
- Its monthly stablecoin volumes have eclipsed a $3.5 billion annual run rate.
Visa is expanding its stablecoin pilot to include settlements in the United States using Circle’s USDC on the Solana blockchain.
The expansion will allow U.S. acquirer and issuer partners of the payments giant to settle in USDC, starting with initial banking partners Cross River Bank and Lead Bank. The firm is expecting a broader rollout in 2026.
“Visa is expanding stablecoin settlement because our banking partners are not only asking about it—they’re preparing to use it,” said Visa’s Global Head of Growth Products and Strategic Partnerships Rubail Birwadker, in a statement.
“By bringing USDC settlement to the U.S., Visa is delivering a reliable, bank-ready capability that improves treasury efficiency while maintaining the security, compliance and resiliency standards our network requires,” he added.
According to the firm, USDC settlement allows for faster fund movement and increased settlement availability, upgrading from the typical 5-day business week to a full 7-day settlement window.
The U.S. expansion builds on Visa’s existing stablecoin settlement experience. The payments firm has been experimenting with settlement in USDC since 2021, and began formally doing so in pilots across the globe starting in 2023. It has now eclipsed a $3.5 billion annualized run rate based on its data from November 30.
“Fintech and crypto innovators increasingly ask us to bring stablecoins into their existing product suite,” said Gilles Gade, founder, president, and CEO of Cross River Bank, in a statement. “A unified platform that natively supports both stablecoins and traditional payment networks is the foundation for how value will move globally.”
Visa’s U.S. expansion comes one day after it announced the creation of a stablecoin advisory practice, a service to help financial institutions and merchants evaluate and implement stablecoin practices.
Last month, Visa began piloting the use of USDC in direct payments for gig workers, and earlier this year it expanded its stablecoin settlement offerings in other countries to include other layer-1 blockchains like Stellar and Avalanche.
It has also been working with Circle as an early design partner on its stablecoin-focused blockchain, Arc. In the future, Visa said it aims to allow USDC settlement on Arc in addition to operating a validator node for the network.
Shares of Visa Inc. (V) are down around 0.5% after the opening bell on Tuesday, changing hands around $345.26. Shares have gained around 9.2% year-to-date.
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