Visa Doubles Down on Stablecoins with New Platform and Lending Rail
Visa is expanding its stablecoin platform, which allows banks to easily mint, hold, and move digital dollars. The company's new stablecoin platform, Visa Stablecoin Platform (VSP), acts as a plug-and-play toolkit for traditional banks and fintechs. This tool eliminates the need for manual management of private keys, multi-sig wallets, or token minting and burning.
Visa will support Open USD, an upcoming token, and USDC later this year. The platform is currently in beta testing, pending the launch of Open USD. Over 160 stablecoin-linked card programs are live worldwide, with a payment volume that has increased nearly 200% year over year.
The company's on-chain lending rail allows blockchain lenders to assess real-time settlement performance and extend short-term credit using smart contracts. This solution is being tested with Credit Coop, which finances stablecoin-linked card programs. Since 2023, this model has supported more than $2.5 billion in cumulative settlement financing with zero defaults.
Visa's stablecoin settlement volume has reached an annualized run rate of over $20 billion, a figure that is more than 15 times higher than the previous year. This growth indicates that stablecoins are becoming a primary settlement layer for the internet.