Visa is quietly building stablecoins into mainstream payment plumbing without you knowing

Visa is quietly integrating stablecoins into its core payment infrastructure through a settlement pilot that now supports nine blockchains, including Avalanche, Ethereum, Solana, Stellar, Arc, Base, Canton, Polygon, and Tempo. This pilot has reached an annualized run rate of $7 billion, a 50% increase from the previous quarter. The initiative focuses on the settlement layer, which moves value between financial institutions after a transaction is authorized, rather than consumer-facing applications. Visa has been developing this capability for several years, previously settling millions in USDC over Solana and Ethereum. The expansion to nine chains signifies Visa's intent to offer stablecoins as a parallel settlement option, adapting to various partner needs, from low-cost transactions to privacy-preserving institutional finance. The move is seen as a significant operational signal, indicating that crypto adoption is progressing in the back office of traditional finance before becoming visible at the point of sale. While the exact volume breakdown per chain remains undisclosed, the growing run rate and expanded blockchain support highlight stablecoins' increasing role as settlement infrastructure within the mainstream payment ecosystem.

(Source：CryptoSlate)