Visa Expands Stablecoin Settlement Pilot to Nine Blockchains

Visa's stablecoin settlement pilot has reached a significant milestone with the addition of nine new blockchains. The company announced that its pilot now supports Arc, Base, Canton, Polygon, and Tempo, in addition to Avalanche, Ethereum, Solana, and Stellar. This expansion demonstrates Visa's commitment to integrating stablecoins into mainstream payment plumbing.

The annualized run rate for the pilot has increased by 50% from the prior quarter, reaching $7 billion. This growth indicates that stablecoins are becoming a viable option for institutions within traditional finance. The company is testing whether stablecoins can become a parallel settlement option inside payment infrastructure, reducing the need for each partner to build separate crypto operations.

The five new additions to the pilot suggest that Visa wants to make available different types of environments to its partners. Arc offers predictable costs and transfer guarantees, while Base brings low gas costs and fast settlement times. Canton focuses on institutional privacy, allowing counterparties to remain invisible to others. Polygon emphasizes global payments and stablecoin liquidity, while Tempo provides dedicated payment lanes and deterministic settlement.