Visa has announced an expansion of its stablecoin settlement initiative, incorporating five new blockchains into its network, which now spans a total of nine platforms and has achieved an annualized transaction volume of $7 billion, representing a 50% increase from the previous quarter. This development enables issuers and acquirers to utilize stablecoins for transaction settlement, bypassing traditional banking channels. The newly integrated blockchains include Coinbase's Base, Polygon, Canton Network, Circle's Arc, and Stripe-backed Tempo, complementing existing integrations with Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche, and Stellar. As stablecoins, which are cryptocurrencies pegged to the value of fiat currencies, continue to gain traction in cross-border transactions, Visa is further testing this model through pilots and regional deployments, such as the USDC settlement tied to card programs in over 50 countries.
By leveraging blockchain-based currencies, partners can settle transactions in near real-time, eliminating the need for lengthy waiting periods associated with traditional banking systems. Visa's support for multiple networks aims to provide partners with access to diverse liquidity pools without added complexity. According to Rubail Birwadker, Visa's global head of growth products and strategic partnerships, 'Our partners are developing in a multi-chain environment 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 unified settlement layer across all of them.'