Visa Expands Stablecoin Settlement Pilot to Nine Networks, Adding Arc, Base, Canton, Polygon, Tempo

Visa has expanded its stablecoin settlement pilot to nine blockchain networks by adding Arc, Base, Canton, Polygon, and Tempo, bringing the program beyond earlier support for Ethereum, Solana, Stellar, and Avalanche.

“Visa announced April 29 that its global stablecoin settlement pilot has reached a $7 billion annualized run rate, up 50% quarter over quarter, and now supports nine blockchains after adding Arc, Base, Canton, Polygon, and Tempo”

Bitcoin News

Multiple outlets tie the expansion to a specific performance milestone: Visa said the pilot reached an annualized settlement run rate of roughly $7 billion, growing about 50% quarter over quarter.

Bitcoin News

Cointelegraph frames the move as “Visa broadens its crypto pilot to nine blockchains as stablecoin volumes grow,” while CoinDesk describes it as “Visa expands stablecoin settlement network as volume hits $7 billion run rate.”

Decrypt similarly reports that Visa “added Arc, Base, Canton, Polygon, and Tempo to its global stablecoin settlement pilot, bringing the total supported networks to nine.”

The pilot is designed to let selected partners settle transactions using stablecoins rather than relying solely on traditional banking rails, according to Cointelegraph and CoinDesk.

Cointelegraph says the pilot “allows partners to settle transactions using stablecoins rather than traditional banking rails,” and CoinDesk adds that the program lets “issuers and acquirers settle transactions in stablecoins instead of through traditional banking rails.”

The expansion also comes with a stated goal of evaluating whether stablecoins can deliver “faster settlement, round-the-clock availability and efficiencies in cross-border payments,” as Visa is quoted by Cointelegraph.

Visa’s stated rationale for the stablecoin settlement pilot centers on performance and operational characteristics rather than replacing Visa’s core payments infrastructure.

Cointelegraph says the initiative is “designed to evaluate whether stablecoins can offer faster settlement, round-the-clock availability and efficiencies in cross-border payments.”

CoinCentral

FinanceFeeds similarly describes the pilot’s purpose as testing whether stablecoins can “improve settlement speed, support round-the-clock transfers, and reduce friction in cross-border payments.”

Cointelegraph also reports that despite the $7 billion annualized run rate, “volume remains small compared to the company’s core payments business,” positioning the effort as experimentation even as it scales.

CoinDesk adds that Visa is aiming to give partners access to different pools of liquidity “without added complexity,” while still serving as “a common settlement layer.”

CryptoRank says the expansion “improving multi-chain interoperability for crypto payments and DeFi rails,” and it attributes the run-rate growth to “Strong Institutional Demand.”

Decrypt provides additional network-specific context, describing Polygon and Base as Ethereum scaling networks and characterizing Arc and Tempo as layer-1 chains focused on stablecoins and payments.

Visa’s expansion announcement includes direct quotes from Visa executives that connect the multi-chain approach to how partners build their payment stacks.

“Visa expands stablecoin settlement network as volume hits $7 billion run rate The payments giant added support for Stripe's Tempo, Circle's Arc, Coinbase's Base, Polygon and Canton Network as stablecoins gain traction in global money movement”

CoinDesk

Cointelegraph quotes Rubail Birwadker, “Our partners are building in a multi-chain world, and they expect their options to reflect that reality,” and it continues with the statement that “Expanding our stablecoin settlement pilot program to more blockchains means our partners can choose the networks that best fit their needs, while relying on Visa to provide a common settlement layer across all of them.”

CoinDesk repeats the same quoted language from Birwadker, presenting it as the centerpiece of Visa’s explanation for why the pilot now spans more networks.

CryptoRank also attributes the expansion to “rising demand for stablecoin transactions across global markets,” and it frames the run rate as evidence of “growing institutional adoption.”

Decrypt adds that Visa’s stablecoin settlement volume “reached a $7 billion annualized run rate, marking 50% quarter-over-quarter growth,” and it links that growth to “accelerating institutional adoption of blockchain payment rails.”

Cointelegraph says the pilot is tied to stablecoin settlement and notes Visa’s broader stablecoin work, including a partnership with Bridge, a subsidiary of Stripe, to support a global card program that enables stablecoin-linked payments.

CryptoRank goes further by stating the program “supports 130+ stablecoin-linked card programs across Latin America, Europe, APAC and CEMEA,” while CoinDesk says Visa has tested “USDC settlement tied to card programs in more than 50 countries.”

The Visa expansion arrives alongside regulatory developments and competitive pressure from other payments firms and fintechs, as described across the crypto-focused outlets.

Cointelegraph points to the “passage of the GENIUS Act,” saying it “establishes clearer regulatory standards for payment stablecoins,” and it links that clarity to more room for large financial companies to test stablecoin settlement.

Cointelegraph

FinanceFeeds similarly says “Regulatory clarity in the United States has improved following the passage of the GENIUS Act,” and it notes that the act “sets clearer standards for payment stablecoins.”

Both outlets also highlight that policy questions remain, especially around whether stablecoins should be allowed to offer yield, referencing “a proposed US market structure bill that has stalled.”

Cointelegraph adds a broader market context by citing DeFiLlama data that “the total value of stablecoins in circulation has surpassed $320 billion,” and it says that figure has increased “nearly 150% since early 2024.”

Competition is framed as intensifying: Cointelegraph says “competitors such as Mastercard step up activity in the sector,” including enabling stablecoin-linked card spending in the United States through integrations with wallets like MetaMask.

FinanceFeeds similarly describes Mastercard’s activity and also notes that “Payments software provider Modern Treasury said it integrated with Polygon to help businesses move stablecoin payments faster.”

Across the outlets, Visa’s multi-chain expansion is presented as a step toward operationalizing stablecoin settlement at scale, while still leaving open questions about how the broader stablecoin market will evolve.

“Visa Expands Stablecoin Pilot With Base, Polygon, Canton, Arc, and Tempo as Run Rate Hits $7B Share: - Visa added five blockchains (Arc, Base, Canton, Polygon, Tempo) to its stablecoin settlement pilot, bringing total supported networks to nine (also Avalanche, Ethereum, Solana, Stellar) and improving multi-chain interoperability for crypto payments and DeFi rails”

CryptoRank

Cointelegraph says the initiative is meant to evaluate whether stablecoins can provide “faster settlement, round-the-clock availability and efficiencies in cross-border payments,” and it frames the $7 billion annualized run rate as evidence of “early traction for onchain settlement in global payments.”

CryptoRank

CoinDesk similarly describes the goal as giving partners “access to broader liquidity while serving as a common settlement layer,” and it emphasizes that Visa is “first offering the feature to select creators in Colombia and the Philippines,” in a broader context of stablecoin payouts tied to blockchain rails.

CryptoRank characterizes the expansion as “signaling growing institutional adoption and onchain finance integration with traditional payments,” and it claims the multi-chain approach improves “liquidity, settlement speed, and security.”

Decrypt ties the growth to a shift from experimentation to ongoing use by stating that “Visa’s stablecoin settlement volume jumped from approximately $4.7 billion to $7 billion on an annualized basis in just one quarter,” and it calls the additions “complement[ing] Visa’s existing support” to create a “comprehensive multi-chain settlement layer.”

Bitcoin News adds that Visa’s pilot now supports “nine blockchains” and that the expansion “gives issuers and acquirers more options for settling VisaNet obligations directly in stablecoins.”

It also quotes Jesse Pollak saying the move is “a step toward making stablecoin payments a daily reality for billions of people,” and it includes Marc Boiron’s statement that “the inclusion of Polygon signals that stablecoins are entering real-world payments at scale.”