Visa has announced an expansion of its stablecoin initiative, incorporating five new blockchains into its settlement pilot, which now operates across nine networks and has achieved a $7 billion annual run rate, representing a 50% increase from the previous quarter. This development enables issuers and acquirers to utilize stablecoins for transaction settlements, bypassing traditional banking channels. The newly added blockchains - comprising Coinbase's Base, Polygon, Canton Network, Circle's Arc, and Stripe-backed Tempo - complement existing integrations with Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche, and Stellar. As stablecoins gain prominence in cross-border transactions, Visa's strategic move supports its partners in leveraging multiple networks, thereby accessing diverse liquidity pools without added complexity.
According to Rubail Birwadker, Visa's global head of growth products and strategic partnerships, 'By expanding our stablecoin settlement pilot to multiple blockchains, our partners can select the networks that best suit their requirements while relying on Visa to provide a unified settlement layer across all of them.'