Visa Unleashes USDC Settlement for U.S. Banks on Solana
Visa just rewired the rails of global finance—and they're using Solana to do it.
### The Corporate On-Ramp Goes Live
Forget pilot programs and vague promises. Visa's new settlement system lets U.S. financial institutions move value with USDC on Solana's blockchain. This isn't a test. It's a live, operational bypass of the traditional correspondent banking maze.
### Why This Cuts Through the Noise
Speed and cost. That's the Solana pitch, and Visa is betting its reputation on it. Settlement that once took days—and a small fortune in intermediary fees—now happens in seconds for fractions of a cent. Banks get finality faster than a wire transfer can even be initiated.
### The Stablecoin Standard Settles In
USDC isn't just another crypto token here; it's the designated settlement asset. This move pours institutional concrete around the idea of a regulated, dollar-digital hybrid. It signals that for big finance, the volatility of 'speculative' crypto assets is a sideshow. The real game is in digitizing the dollar itself.
### A Quiet Jab at the Old Guard
Let's be cynical for a second. This also looks like a brilliant way for Visa to capture a slice of the lucrative cross-border settlement pie that has long been dominated by slow-moving banking consortiums and the SWIFT network. Disrupt yourself before someone else does—and charge a toll on the new highway.
The message is clear: The infrastructure for a digital-first financial system is being built now, not in some distant future. And for once, Wall Street might not be the last to the party.
Expanding stablecoin settlement inside U.S. banks
Luca Cosentino, Cross River’s senior vice president of product, said demand from fintech and crypto companies is rising fast.
“There’s a new wave of demand coming from these fintech, crypto clients that are serving these new use cases, and for us, that demand is very big,” Luca said.
Companies are shipping payment cards tied to stablecoin balances, letting users spend digital dollars while merchants receive local currency.
Banks see this setup as a way to pull in new clients. Luca said the ability to settle card flows in stablecoins will help banks lure startups that need faster settlement for global users.
Long term, he said stablecoins will be a “no-brainer capability that will be increasingly adopted.”
Stablecoins are built to hold a steady value, and USDC stays tied to the U.S. dollar through one-to-one reserves. That structure is drawing big payment companies into the race. Analysts predict that stablecoins could handle more than $50 trillion in yearly payment flows by 2030.
Mastercard said in April it WOULD let merchants take stablecoin payments, and Fortune reported in October that the company is in talks to buy crypto infrastructure firm Zero Hash.
Driving settlement growth across networks
Traditional banks have become more open about stablecoin plans this year as TRUMP eased federal pressure on digital assets.
Visa partnered earlier this year with Stripe on a tool called Bridge, giving fintechs a way to launch stablecoin card programs across several countries at once. It started in Latin America, where demand is concentrated because many local currencies swing sharply week to week.
Stablecoin rails also cut settlement times. Legacy payment rails can take up to three business days on Visa’s network. Blockchains settle around the clock, including weekends. Visa reported $3.5 billion in annualized stablecoin settlement volume as of November 30.
The number is growing fast, but it is still small next to the $17 trillion handled across the wider Visa network last year.
Visa now wants to anchor itself as the main settlement partner for companies building on stablecoins. The company launched a global advisory practice this week to guide banks, merchants, and fintechs that want to use digital-dollar rails.
Visa is also pushing its tokenized asset platform, which lets financial institutions issue fiat-backed tokens for their own programs.
The company is betting that stablecoins will sit at the center of payment flows in the years ahead. And with U.S. banks finally cleared to use them, Visa is moving early to lock in its spot.
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