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Visa has taken a decisive step towards embedding stablecoins into core financial infrastructure, launching US-based settlement in Circle’s USDC for participating issuers and acquirers.
Visa brings stablecoin settlement
While consumer cardholders will notice no difference at checkout, the implications behind the scenes are significant.
Settlement can now take place seven days a week, including weekends and holidays, using blockchain rails rather than legacy banking windows.
The launch positions Visa not as a speculative crypto adopter, but as an infrastructure operator methodically modernising how money moves between regulated institutions.
From Pilot to Production-Grade Settlement
Initial settlement activity is taking place on the Solana blockchain, with Cross River Bank and Lead Bank among the first US participants. Visa says broader availability is planned through 2026, suggesting a phased rollout designed to align with bank readiness rather than market hype.
This is not a sudden pivot. Visa has been running stablecoin settlement pilots internationally for several years, quietly building operational confidence.
By the end of November, monthly stablecoin settlement volumes had reached a $3.5bn annualised run rate — a meaningful figure that signals real treasury usage rather than experimentation.
Why Stablecoins Matter to Issuers and Acquirers
For banks and acquirers, the attraction is practical rather than ideological.
Stablecoin settlement enables faster funds movement, continuous availability and improved liquidity management, all while integrating with existing treasury operations.
Crucially, it eliminates the stop-start nature of settlement imposed by traditional banking hours.
Visa’s approach preserves the existing card experience while upgrading the settlement layer beneath it. That distinction matters. Unlike many blockchain initiatives that require ecosystem-wide behavioural change, Visa is inserting stablecoins into workflows banks already understand.
Building a Multichain, Multicoin Foundation
Visa has been explicit about its longer-term ambitions. The company is acting as a design partner for Arc, a new Layer 1 blockchain developed by Circle and currently in public testnet.
Arc is designed to support high-throughput, enterprise-grade use cases, including Visa’s global commercial settlement activity.
Visa plans to use Arc for USDC settlement within its network and to operate a validator node once the blockchain goes live — a signal that it intends to be an active participant in onchain infrastructure, not merely a user.
This aligns with Visa’s stated strategy of building a multicoin, multichain settlement platform capable of supporting different regulated stablecoins across jurisdictions.
Settlement Infrastructure – Not Disruption
Visa chief executive Ryan McInerney has described stablecoins as “next-generation settlement infrastructure”, a framing that neatly captures the company’s posture.
This is not about displacing banks, but about giving them new tools to move money with greater speed and precision.
That same logic underpins Visa’s earlier pilot allowing stablecoins to fund Visa Direct disbursements for cross-border payments, positioning digital dollars as a liquidity layer for global payouts.
A Signal to the Market
Visa’s US launch sends a clear message: stablecoins have crossed from theoretical efficiency into operational reality.
As regulation clarifies and banks prepare their internal systems, settlement on public blockchains is no longer a fringe concept. It is becoming part of the payments industry’s core plumbing — quietly, deliberately, and at scale.
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