Visa Expands Stablecoin Settlement On Solana
Visa has taken a significant step towards modernizing cross-border money movement by expanding its stablecoin settlement capabilities to the high-performing Solana blockchain. Collaborating with merchant acquirers Worldpay and Nuvei, Visa has conducted live pilots with issuers and acquirers, marking a milestone in cross-border payment innovation.
2/ Visa’s addition of the Solana blockchain follows months of extensive research and evaluation of infrastructure that helps bring:
⚡Speed of finality
🪙Negligible costs
⏫High throughput
🗺️DecentralizationRead more from @FortuneMagazine: https://t.co/4oGU3yR0F0
— Solana (@solana) September 5, 2023
Visa’s Stablecoin Push
Visa’s move toward stablecoin settlement is set to transform the payment landscape, offering users nearly instant payment authorizations when making purchases at millions of Visa-accepting merchant locations worldwide. Behind the scenes, funds must move seamlessly between the issuer’s bank and the acquirer’s bank, a process made possible by Visa’s treasury and settlement systems, which handle billions in transactions daily across more than 25 global currencies.
Cuy Sheffield, Head of Crypto at Visa, emphasized how stablecoins like USDC and blockchain networks such as Solana and Ethereum are streamlining cross-border settlements. Sheffield stated, “Visa is committed to being on the forefront of digital currency and blockchain innovation and leveraging these new technologies to help improve the way we move money.” Visa’s journey into stablecoin settlement began in 2021, with the pioneering pilot project alongside Crypto.com, making Visa one of the first major payments networks to explore stablecoin settlement on the issuance side. This successful collaboration allowed Crypto.com to use USDC on the Ethereum blockchain to fulfill settlement obligations for Visa card transactions in Australia, reducing settlement times and complexity.
Transforming Cross-Border Payments
Jeremy Allaire, Co-founder and CEO of Circle, the firm behind USDC, commended Visa’s innovative approach, noting that expanding the pilot signifies how pairing USDC with Visa’s expertise opens up new possibilities for payments and financial applications. Visa’s recent development allows funds to be sent on-chain directly to acquirers like Worldpay and Nuvei, further speeding up settlement times for merchants across various sectors. This includes a growing number of merchants in the blockchain and crypto economy who may prefer receiving stablecoins for card payments.
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Jim Johnson, President of Worldpay Merchant Solutions at FIS, highlighted the flexibility that Visa’s USDC settlement capability brings to merchants, enabling more diverse funding options and aligning with the evolving commerce landscape. Philip Fayer, Chair and CEO of Nuvei, recognized the potential of stablecoins like USDC in accelerating global online businesses’ growth and underlined their commitment to innovation. Visa’s partnership with Worldpay and Nuvei promises to reshape cross-border transactions and enhance payment options for businesses worldwide.
