Visa Expands Stablecoin Strategy With Onchain Credit Initiative
By Connor HartVisa is expanding its presence in digital-asset infrastructure, combining payment-network data with blockchain-based credit infrastructure to help financial-technology companies and stablecoin-linked card programs access working capital.Under the new initiative, Visa said Tuesday it will provide participating lenders with access to VisaNet settlement data to help evaluate and monitor financing. The model combines payment data with onchain lending infrastructure, giving lenders greater visibility into transaction flows and enabling automated funding, collateral management and repayment."Trusted payment data and onchain technologies can work together to unlock new forms of liquidity, helping businesses access capital in ways that are more transparent, programmable and aligned to the speed of modern commerce," said Rubail Birwadker, who oversees growth products and partnerships at Visa.The move marks Visa's latest push into stablecoins.More than 160 stablecoin-linked card programs currently operate on Visa's network, with payment volume on those programs growing nearly 200% year over year, according to the company. Visa added that its stablecoin settlement volume recently surpassed a $20 billion annualized run rate, up more than 15-fold from a year earlier.Visa highlighted an early deployment with Credit Coop, which provides working capital and settlement financing for stablecoin-linked card programs using smart contracts to automate funding, collateral management and repayment.Write to Connor Hart at [email protected]