Visa has announced the expansion of its stablecoin settlement initiative, incorporating five additional blockchain networks into its existing program. This development underscores the company's commitment to a multichain approach in facilitating global payments.
The stablecoin settlement pilot, which now spans nine networks, has achieved a significant milestone with a $7 billion annualized run rate, marking a 50% increase from the previous quarter. This program enables issuers and acquirers to utilize stablecoins for transaction settlements, bypassing traditional banking channels. The newly integrated blockchains include Coinbase's Base, Polygon, Canton Network, Circle's Arc, and Stripe-backed Tempo, joining the existing networks of Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche, and Stellar.
As stablecoins continue to gain traction as a means of cross-border money transfer, Visa's strategic move aims to capitalize on this trend. By supporting multiple blockchain networks, Visa seeks to provide its partners with access to diverse liquidity pools without added complexity, allowing for near real-time transaction settlements.
According to Rubail Birwadker, Visa's global head of growth products and strategic partnerships, 'Our partners are developing solutions in a multi-chain environment and expect their options to align with this reality. By expanding our stablecoin settlement pilot 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.'