Visa is bolstering its stablecoin offerings by integrating five more blockchain platforms, adopting a multichain strategy for international payments. The company announced on Wednesday that its stablecoin settlement pilot program now spans nine networks, achieving 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 instead of traditional banking systems. The newly added blockchain platforms include Coinbase's Base, Polygon, Canton Network, Circle's Arc, and Stripe-backed Tempo, which join the existing integrations with Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche, and Stellar.
As stablecoins, cryptocurrencies pegged to fiat currencies, gain traction in cross-border transactions, Visa is testing this model through pilots and regional deployments, including USDC settlement tied to card programs in over 50 countries. By supporting multiple networks, Visa aims to provide its partners with access to diverse liquidity pools without added complexity, allowing them to settle transactions in near real-time using blockchain-based currencies. According to Rubail Birwadker, Visa's global head of growth products and strategic partnerships, 'Our partners operate 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.'