Key Highlights
- Stablecoin settlement activity on Visa’s network has reached an annualized $20 billion run rate, reflecting a 15-fold increase compared to last year.
- Over 160 card programs connected to stablecoins currently operate on Visa’s infrastructure, recording payment volume growth of nearly 200% year over year.
- Visa is integrating VisaNet settlement information with blockchain-based lending platforms to provide fintechs with improved working capital solutions.
- Credit Coop, a decentralized protocol for lending, has supported over $2.5 billion in total settlement volume since its 2023 launch without recording any defaults.
- The platform has executed more than 3,000 borrowing transactions and 9,000 repayment transactions programmatically through blockchain technology.
Visa (V) is integrating its established settlement infrastructure with blockchain lending mechanisms, addressing critical working capital challenges faced by stablecoin-based card programs operating on its platform.
In an announcement made Tuesday, the payments giant revealed that VisaNet settlement information will be made availableāwith explicit customer consentāalongside blockchain transaction data. This combined dataset enables lenders to evaluate credit worthiness and automate financing for card issuers utilizing stablecoins.
Settlement volume for stablecoins processed through Visa’s network has now exceeded an annualized $20 billion threshold, marking more than a 15-fold expansion from the previous year.
Currently, over 160 card programs linked to stablecoins are operational across Visa’s payment rails. These programs have experienced payment volume increases approaching 200% on a year-over-year basis.
However, Visa acknowledges that numerous fintech companies and emerging payment providers managing these programs face significant obstacles securing working capital through conventional lending channels. Traditional financial institutions generally demand established operational track records, substantial scale, or extensive manual underwriting processes before approving credit facilities.
This innovative approach aims to address these barriers by providing lenders with transparent access to settlement receivablesāfunds due to card programs following payment clearanceāwhile combining this with verifiable blockchain-based transaction data.
Credit Coop Pioneers the Infrastructure
Visa has been testing a preliminary version of this system through its collaboration with Credit Coop, a decentralized lending platform that employs smart contracts to automate funding distribution, collateral oversight, and repayment processing.
Beginning in 2023, Credit Coop has facilitated financing for more than $2.5 billion in aggregate settlement volume through participating credit facilities. The initiative has recorded over 3,000 borrowing transactions and 9,000 repayment transactions, all executed through blockchain protocols without experiencing any loan defaults.
Rubail Birwadker, who leads global growth products and partnerships at Visa, noted that stablecoins are “changing how money moves” while creating opportunities to reimagine the underlying financial infrastructure supporting payment systems.
Visa’s Comprehensive Stablecoin Approach
Visa’s engagement with stablecoins represents an ongoing strategic priority. During the company’s fiscal third-quarter earnings presentation in July, executives emphasized that Visa is “investing in each layer of the stablecoin stack,” spanning blockchains, digital wallets, core infrastructure, and end-user applications.
Visa has additionally become a member of the OpenStandard consortium, an initiative planning to launch the OpenUSD stablecoin. This consortium includes more than 140 participating organizations, with Stripe among the notable members.
This development follows reports from CoinDesk approximately two weeks prior, indicating that Visa was actively searching for a new stablecoin settlement collaborator with regulatory licensing across multiple jurisdictions.
Adjusted transaction volume for stablecoins throughout the broader cryptocurrency market reached an all-time high of $1.79 trillion in June. Volume recorded over the most recent 30-day period totals approximately $1.2 trillion, based on data from Visa’s proprietary analytics platform.
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