Visa to start supporting some stablecoins on four blockchains

Global payments giant Visa is set to roll out support for four stablecoins across four “unique blockchains,” as the firm pushes to ramp up its crypto services.

Visa CEO Ryan McInerney told investors on the company’s fourth-quarter and year-end earnings call on Tuesday that the firm will continue expanding its stablecoin offerings amid strong growth over the last financial year.

“We are adding support for four stablecoins running on four unique blockchains, representing two currencies that we can accept and convert to over 25 traditional fiat currencies.”

McInerney did not share details on the stablecoins and networks Visa will support, but the move will bolster the company’s supported list of networks and stablecoins.

Visa already backs stablecoins, including Circle’s USDC (USDC) and Euro Coin (EURC), along with PayPal USD (PYUSD) and Global Dollar (USDG), on the Ethereum, Solana, Stellar and Avalanche blockchains. 

McInerney said the firm sees “particular momentum with stablecoins,” as he pointed to $140 billion worth of facilitated crypto and stablecoin flows since 2020. 

In terms of growth, he said that global consumer spending within Visa’s stablecoin-linked card services increased fourfold over its fourth quarter, compared to the same quarter last year. 

“We expanded the number of stablecoins and blockchains available for settlement, and monthly volume has now passed a $2.5 billion annualized run rate,” he added.

Visa CEO Ryan McInerney speaking to Bloomberg in May. Source: YouTube

Visa doubles down on stablecoin banking

McInerney suggested key areas of focus for Visa will be to broaden its stablecoin offerings for banks and other traditional financial institutions, and facilitate more cross-border transactions, noting that “there is much more to come in this space.”  

Related: Stablecoins become ‘global macroeconomic force’ as transactions reach $46T: Report

The process started in late September via a Visa Direct pilot program enabling banks and financial institutions to pre-fund cross-border payments using USDC and EURC.

The next stage, according to McInerney, will be to continue enhancing and investing in its solutions layer, enabling the firm to offer more features to its clients and partners, with a concrete example being the minting and burning of stablecoins. 

“We are starting to enable banks to mint and burn their own stablecoins with the Visa tokenized asset platform, and we are adding stablecoin capabilities to enhance cross-border money movement with Visa Direct.” 

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