Payments giant Visa is connecting its settlement network to onchain transactions, giving stablecoin-linked card programs another way to access working capital, potentially expanding the role of onchain lending in payment settlements from the crypto market.
Company announcement Tuesday that settlement data from Visanet will be integrated with a blockchain-based lending infrastructure, allowing lenders to finance payment obligations using data from the Visa network. The initiative enables lenders to use onchain transaction data as well as Visa settlement records to evaluate borrowers and finance their settlement obligations.
Visa highlighted Credit Coop, a blockchain-based protocol that extends credit lines to businesses, as an early example of the model. Credit Coop has financed more than $2.5 billion through 2023 with growing settlement volume across participating facilities, including more than 3,000 borrowing events and 9,000 disbursements.
Rubail Birwadkar, Visa’s global head of growth products and partnerships, said stablecoins are “changing how money moves” and creating opportunities to rethink the way payments support the financial infrastructure.
The initiative comes as Visa’s stablecoin-related payments business expands. More than 160 stablecoin-linked card programs now operate on its network, increasing payment volume by nearly 200% year over year. Visa also said its stablecoin settlement volume exceeded the $20 billion annual run rate, more than 15 times the year-ago level.
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Visa Deepens Its Stablecoin Push
Visa has made stablecoins a growing part of its payments strategy, with management saying during its fiscal third-quarter earnings call in July that the company is “investing in every layer of the stablecoin stack,” including blockchain, wallets, infrastructure and applications.
The push includes joining the OpenStandard consortium, which plans to issue the OpenUSD stablecoin, and counts Stripe among more than 140 participating businesses.
Visa’s expansion also comes as stablecoin activity continues to grow. Adjusted stablecoin transaction volume reached a record $1.79 trillion in June, while volume over the past 30 days was nearly $1.2 trillion, according to Visa’s analytics dashboard.
Related: Visa works with Upbit’s parent in stablecoin payments, AI Commerce
