Visa is widening its bet on crypto payments — adding five blockchains to a global stablecoin settlement pilot that lets issuers and acquirers settle transactions in fiat‑pegged tokens instead of traditional banking rails.
In a press release, the payments giant said it has expanded the pilot to include Arc, Base, Canton, Polygon and Tempo. That brings the program’s network roster to nine blockchains, up from the original four (Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche and Stellar). The move aims to give Visa partners flexibility to use the networks that best suit their needs while Visa provides a common settlement layer across them.
“Over the past year, stablecoins have evolved from a promising innovation to a practical way to move money globally,” Visa said, noting its pilots help partners streamline operations. Rubail Birwadker, Global Head of Growth Products and Strategic Partnerships at Visa, added that expanding the program “means our partners can choose the networks that best fit their needs, while relying on Visa to provide a common settlement layer across all of them.”
Visa also disclosed growth in pilot activity: the annualized settlement run rate rose 50% quarter‑over‑quarter to reach $7 billion. The company’s push comes as stablecoins gain regulatory momentum worldwide — including the signing of the GENIUS Act in the United States — and as the asset class has shown resilience even while broader crypto markets have cooled.
Data from DeFiLlama shows the total market capitalization of fiat‑pegged tokens hit a fresh high in mid‑April and currently sits around $319.8 billion, roughly $1.5 billion below that record. The stablecoin market has trended slightly upward since October, while Bitcoin declined about 40% over the same period; at the time of Visa’s update, BTC was trading near $76,000, down 1.8% over the prior seven days.
Why it matters:
- Expanding network coverage reduces frictions for businesses that want to settle in stablecoins across different blockchains.
- A common settlement layer from an established payments firm like Visa could accelerate enterprise adoption by simplifying integrations and compliance.
- Growing settlement volumes and favorable regulatory headlines signal that stablecoins are moving from experimental use cases toward mainstream payment infrastructure.
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