Visa pilot settles $7B annualized in stablecoins

Visa said on April 29 that its stablecoin settlement pilot had reached a $7 billion annualized run rate, extending a program the company has been building for several years to move part of its back-end settlement onto blockchain rails. The company said it added five blockchains — Arc, Base, Canton, Polygon and Tempo — bringing the total in the pilot to nine. Visa described the expansion as part of a broader effort to give issuers and acquirers more options for settling obligations tied to transactions that still run over Visa’s traditional card network. The $7 billion figure matters because it refers to settlement volume, not consumer spending at checkout. In Visa’s setup, stablecoins are being used behind the scenes to settle fiat-denominated payments authorized over VisaNet, rather than replacing the card transaction itself. Visa has previously said it was moving USDC over Ethereum and Solana with partners including Worldpay and Nuvei, and later expanded support to Avalanche, Stellar, EURC, PYUSD and USDG. (usa.visa.com) ### So what is Visa actually doing with stablecoins? Visa’s pilot uses stablecoins as a settlement tool between Visa and participating financial institutions, not as a direct substitute for dollars in everyday card purchases. The company said in earlier announcements that issuer and acquirer partners can settle with Visa in Circle’s USDC, and that the system is designed to modernize the settlement layer underlying global commerce. (usa.visa.com) The distinction matters because settlement happens after a card payment is authorized. A customer can still tap a card and see a normal fiat transaction, while the institutions behind that payment may later use a stablecoin rail to move value more directly. Visa said the pilot now spans nine blockchains, up from four before the April 29 expansion. (usa.visa.com) ### Where did the $7 billion number come from? Visa said the pilot was running at a $7 billion annualized pace as of its April 29 announcement. The company also said that represented a 50% increase from the prior quarter. Coindesk and Yahoo Finance, citing the company, reported the same run-rate figure and quarterly growth. (usa.visa.com) Visa had disclosed a lower figure four months earlier. On Dec. 16, 2025, the company said its U.S. launch of USDC settlement came with more than $3.5 billion in annualized stablecoin settlement volume, indicating the April figure reflected a substantial increase in activity over that period. ### Which blockchains and coins are in the pilot now? Visa said the newest networks added in April were Arc, Base, Canton, Polygon and Tempo. (coindesk.com) Those joined Avalanche, Ethereum, Solana and Stellar, which the company had already supported. Visa has also said its settlement support now includes Circle’s EURC, Paxos-backed Global Dollar, and PayPal USD, alongside USDC. (usa.visa.com) Visa said the purpose of the expansion was to give partners more flexibility in how they source liquidity and settle obligations. The company framed the build-out as “multi-coin and multi-chain,” language it used in a September 2025 announcement about broadening stablecoin support. ### Are Mastercard and Stripe moving in the same direction? Mastercard said in April 2025 that it was rolling out end-to-end capabilities for stablecoin payments, including uses in remittances and disbursements. (usa.visa.com) The company later said it would enable USDG, USDC, PYUSD and FIUSD across its network, and in March 2026 launched a Crypto Partner Program focused on blockchain payments and stablecoin settlement. In March 2026, Mastercard also agreed to acquire BVNK for up to $1.8 billion to deepen its on-chain payments infrastructure. Stripe is part of the same broader payments push cited in the 20 Minutos report, though Visa’s April 29 announcement was specifically about Visa’s own settlement pilot. The clearest next marker will be future Visa newsroom updates showing whether the run rate rises beyond $7 billion and whether additional issuers, acquirers or stablecoins are added to the program. (usa.visa.com) (mastercard.com)