Visa
NYSE: VVisa doesn't need you to know what a stablecoin is. It just needs the banks behind your card to start settling in one.
Last verified: Jul 3, 2026
Who they are
Visa is the world’s largest payment network, connecting consumers, merchants, banks, and governments across more than 200 countries. Its business has always been about being the invisible rail underneath a card swipe — and its stablecoin strategy follows the exact same instinct: stay invisible, but make sure the rail underneath is Visa’s.
Rather than launching its own consumer-facing token, Visa has focused on something less flashy but arguably more consequential — using stablecoins to settle the trillions of dollars that flow between Visa’s bank partners every year.
What they actually do
Settle bank-to-bank obligations in USDC. Visa’s stablecoin settlement pilot lets issuer and acquirer banks settle what they owe each other in Circle’s USDC instead of only fiat wire transfers — offering faster movement, seven-day availability, and resilience across weekends and holidays, all without changing anything a cardholder sees at checkout. The pilot has expanded to nine blockchains and reached a multi-billion-dollar annualized settlement run rate.
Power stablecoin-linked cards. Through partnerships with fintechs like Bridge, Rain, and Reap, Visa enables cards that let people spend stablecoin balances anywhere Visa is accepted — over 160 such programs globally.
Design Circle’s new blockchain, Arc. Visa is a design partner on Arc, the Layer-1 blockchain Circle is building specifically for stablecoin settlement, and plans to run its own validator node once Arc goes live.
Back Open USD, a rival consortium stablecoin. In a notable twist, Visa is also a founding partner of Open USD (OUSD), a new stablecoin launched by a 140-plus-company consortium — including Stripe, Mastercard, and BlackRock — explicitly aimed at challenging Circle and Tether’s dominance. Visa is, in effect, simultaneously helping build Circle’s settlement infrastructure and backing a coin designed to compete with Circle’s own USDC.
How they make money
Traditional card network fees remain the core business by far; the stablecoin strategy is aimed at protecting and modernizing that settlement layer rather than replacing it, with early revenue coming from settlement fees and card-program partnerships.
Where it sits in the value chain
The bigger trend it’s riding
Card networks spent years treating stablecoins warily. Now Visa, Mastercard, and other incumbents have concluded that stablecoins are complementary settlement infrastructure, not an existential threat to the card business — cards remain the interface people actually use, while stablecoins improve the plumbing underneath. The launch of Open USD in June 2026, backed by 140-plus companies including Visa itself, marks an escalation: rather than just adopting existing stablecoins like USDC, the industry’s largest players are now building a shared alternative.
What to watch (not what to do)
What to watch (not what to do)
- The Circle/Open USD tension. Visa is deeply integrated with Circle's USDC and Arc blockchain while also backing a competing consortium coin. Watch how Visa navigates that dual position as Open USD scales.
- Settlement volume versus card volume. Visa's stablecoin settlement run rate is growing fast in percentage terms but is still tiny next to the trillions Visa settles in fiat. The real test is whether it becomes core infrastructure or stays a pilot program.
- Regulatory treatment of card network coins. As stablecoin regulation matures, watch whether consortium-backed coins like Open USD face different scrutiny than single-issuer tokens like USDC or USDT.
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