Key Takeaways
- Visa now allows US institutions to settle transactions in USDC over Solana.
- With this rollout, the company aims to improve treasury efficiency, liquidity timing, and operational resilience for banks and fintech partners.
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Visa is bringing USDC settlement to American issuers and acquirers, extending its stablecoin capabilities into core institutional settlement operations, the global payment giant announced Tuesday.
Visa’s partners can now settle in USDC, a leading stablecoin issued by Circle. The launch follows Visa’s early experimentation with stablecoins. Its growing global settlement activity now surpasses $3.5 billion in annualized volume.
Visa said banks such as Cross River Bank and Lead Bank have begun settling in USDC via the Solana blockchain. The company expects to expand access to the solution across the US throughout 2026.
The solution offers seven-day availability, faster settlement cycles, and more predictable liquidity management, benefitting banks and fintechs without changing the cardholder experience.
Discussing the rollout, Visa’s Global Head of Growth Products and Strategic Partnerships, Rubail Birwadker, said the decision follows increasing interest from banking partners who are actively preparing for adoption.
Birwadker added that financial institutions want fast, programmable settlement tools that work alongside existing treasury systems.
“By bringing USDC settlement to the US, Visa is delivering a reliable, bank‑ready capability that improves treasury efficiency while maintaining the security, compliance, and resiliency standards our network requires,” he noted.
“Bringing USDC settlement to the US with Visa is a milestone for internet native money moving at the speed of software,” said Nikhil Chandhok, Chief Product and Technology Officer at Circle. “It helps card-issuing financial institutions modernize treasury and unlock new services while retaining the transparency and trust that USDC is known for.”
Visa is partnering with Circle as a design participant for Arc, a new layer 1 blockchain aimed at supporting large-scale institutional activity. These efforts reinforce Visa’s strategy to modernize its settlement infrastructure while maintaining high standards for security, compliance, and resilience, according to the company.
