Visa has announced the expansion of its stablecoin initiative by integrating five additional blockchain networks, adopting a multichain strategy for international payments. The company's stablecoin settlement pilot program now supports nine networks and has achieved a $7 billion annualized run rate, marking a 50% increase from the previous quarter.
This program enables issuers and acquirers to settle transactions using stablecoins, an alternative to traditional banking channels. The newly supported networks include Base from Coinbase, Polygon, Canton Network, Circle's Arc, and Stripe's Tempo, which join the existing integrations with Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche, and Stellar.
As stablecoins, which are cryptocurrencies pegged to the value of fiat currencies, gain traction in global money transfers, Visa is testing this approach through pilots and regional rollouts, such as USDC settlement linked to card programs in over 50 countries. By supporting multiple networks, Visa aims to provide its partners with access to various liquidity pools without added complexity, allowing them to settle transactions in near real-time using blockchain-based dollars. According to Rubail Birwadker, Visa's global head of growth products and strategic partnerships, 'Our partners operate in a multi-chain world and expect their options to reflect this reality. By expanding our stablecoin settlement pilot program to more blockchains, our partners can select the networks that best suit their needs while relying on Visa to provide a common settlement layer across all of them.'