Visa is expanding support for stablecoins, adding settlement support for three additional currencies as well as two new blockchains.
According to analysis by Visa, the adoption of stablecoins is surging, with total global transactions reaching $27 trillion by 2024 and transaction volume reaching 1.25 billion. In 2023, the card plans to pilot a program to allow customers to fulfill settlement obligations in USDC, becoming one of the first major payment networks to settle transactions in stablecoins.
Through its partnership with Paxos, Visa is now adding support for U.S. dollar-backed stablecoins Global Dollar (USDG) and PayPal USD (PYUSD), as well as Circle’s euro-backed EURC. Additionally, the payments giant added support for the Stellar and Avalanche blockchains, on top of the already supported Ethereum and Solana.
Visa has previously stated that every money transmitter needs a stablecoin strategy. Its mission is to “build an interoperable layer that enables stablecoin payments to operate at scale.”
In recent months, Visa has taken a stake in stablecoin infrastructure platform BVNK and formed a partnership with Stripe-owned Bridge to help bring stablecoin-linked cards to more people in more places.
Rubail Birwadker, global head of growth products and strategic partnerships at Visa, said: “We believe that when stablecoins are trustworthy, scalable and interoperable, they can fundamentally change the way money moves around the world.”
