News
Breaking News | Visa Launches Platform to Issue and Settle Stablecoins Across 175M Merchants
1 min read
Suhaib
Visa transforms its existing payment rails into stablecoin infrastructure, letting holders spend crypto balances at merchants without converting to fiat - a direct attack on the consumer gap that existing stablecoin issuers have not closed at scale.
Key Numbers
What happened
Visa launched the Visa Stablecoin Platform (VSP), infrastructure that lets banks and fintechs issue, custody, and move stablecoins through Visa's existing payment and treasury workflows. Stablecoin balances held through VSP-connected institutions can be spent at over 175 million merchant locations globally without converting back to fiat currency.
The platform initially supports Open USD (OUSD), a stablecoin from the Open Standard consortium (which includes Visa, Mastercard, and Coinbase), expected to launch by mid-2026. Visa will continue supporting Circle's USDC and Paxos' USDG.
Visa's USDC settlement, launched in the US in December 2025, reached more than $3.5 billion in annualized volume. The company already settles approximately $15 trillion in payments annually and has partnered with Bridge (a Stripe company) to extend stablecoin-linked card issuance across more than 100 countries.
VSP is part of Visa's end-to-end stablecoin suite, which includes stablecoin-linked cards, Visa Direct cross-border payments, and consulting services. The platform targets Visa's network of roughly 15,000 financial institutions and aims to enable low-cost, near-instant settlement with transparent blockchain-based transaction records.
What to watch
Mid-2026: Launch of Open USD (OUSD) stablecoin by the Open Standard consortium
Adoption rate among Visa's 15,000 financial institution partners - determines whether stablecoin volume scales beyond the current $3.5 billion annualized USDC settlement run rate
Competitive response from Circle and other existing stablecoin issuers facing pressure from a consortium-backed alternative with direct merchant-network integration
Also Worth Watching
PayPal launched its own stablecoin in 2023 but lacks the merchant reach Visa now enables through VSP. If Visa captures stablecoin checkout volume that would otherwise flow through PayPal wallets, the competitive threat to PayPal's transaction fee revenue becomes material - particularly in cross-border payments where stablecoins undercut legacy correspondent banking costs. PYPL (PayPal Holdings Inc $55.52 (+17.2%) - )
Company Overview
Visa operates the world's largest electronic payments network, connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions, and governments across more than 200 countries. The company earns revenue primarily through transaction processing fees and cross-border payment assessments.
Comments (0)
V
Visa Inc
NYSE
•
Financials
$355.14
USD
-$0.88
(-0.25%)
At close: Jul 15, 2026, 4:00 PM EDT
Market Cap:
$665.02B
Volume:
8.8M
52w High:
$365.02
P/E Ratio:
33.15
Daily Analyst Ratings
Track how 1,000 Wall Street analysts rate stocks — updated daily.
See which S&P 500 stocks analysts expect to rise most.