Stablecoins are moving from the margins of crypto markets into the plumbing of global payments. Visa is betting that the next phase of adoption will not come from consumers holding digital dollars, but from banks, fintechs, and businesses using them behind the scenes.
Its new Visa Stablecoin Platform is designed to give financial institutions a way to mint, manage, and settle stablecoins within the payment infrastructure they already use.
Visa already handles roughly $7 billion in stablecoin settlements annually, and the company sees the new platform as a way for financial institutions and merchants to more easily incorporate stablecoins into their existing operations.
As first reported by Fortune, the platform’s first major integration will be with OUSD, a new stablecoin announced two weeks ago by Open Standard—a consortium of financial institutions. Slated to go live later this year, OUSD will give businesses a stablecoin option built around institutional use cases, allowing them to mint and redeem tokens without fees or volume limits.
By integrating OUSD into its stablecoin platform, Visa is positioning itself less as a stablecoin issuer and more as the infrastructure layer connecting banks, fintechs, and businesses to digital currencies. Participating institutions will be able to mint, burn, manage and transfer stablecoins through Visa’s network, while relying on the company for settlement, compliance, and other features financial services.
OUSD will be joining a growing group of stablecoins available through Visa, including Circle’s USDC and Tether’s USDT.
“Visa has to support the stablecoins people already use, USDC, USDT, etc.,” said James Wester, Director of Cryptocurrency at Javelin Strategy & Research. “The message here is basically: We will support the coins the market has already chosen. But wouldn’t you rather use the one we are a part of? So the bigger story is defensive. Stablecoins allow digital dollars to be held and transferred without a card network, merchant acquirer or conventional bank relationship. The user just needs a wallet. That’s the point.”
The Mainstreaming of Stablecoins
The new platform builds on Visa’s existing stablecoin offerings, including settlement services, stablecoin-linked cards, and money movement capabilities. The expansion reflects the growing role of stablecoins in payments while also giving FIs an alternative to building their own digital currency infrastructure.
Some major financial institutions have explored issuing their own stablecoins. Citigroup, for instance, was reported last year to be considering a stablecoin initiative, although the bank is not currently listed among the organizations adopting OUSD. Platforms such as Visa’s could provide institutions with a way to participate in the stablecoin ecosystem without having to develop all the underlying infrastructure themselves.
The move also raises questions about the future role of standalone stablecoin issuers. Companies such as Circle, which built USDC into one of the most widely used dollar-backed digital assets, have benefited from demand for trusted stablecoins and the networks built around them. But as traditional payments companies begin offering stablecoin capabilities directly to financial institutions, issuers may face increasing pressure to compete not only on the reliability of their tokens, but also distribution and partnerships.
That shift was reflected in the market reaction following Visa’s announcement, with shares of Circle falling roughly 5%. While the decline doesn’t necessarily indicate a change in USDC’s position, it likely highlights investor concerns that payments companies could capture more of the value created as stablecoins move into mainstream financial services.
Rivals Are Exploring Stablecoins Too
Visa’s competitors, American Express and Mastercard, were also named by Open Standard as firms that had agreed to use OUSD, although details about their roles, commitments, governance participation, or operational involvement remain unclear.
Both companies have been exploring stablecoin-related applications. American Express has been testing blockchain-based settlement technology that could enable faster transaction processing. Mastercard has also expanded its stablecoin strategy. The company acquired stablecoin firm Zerohash last year and later introduced several dollar-backed assets aimed at helping banks and payment providers settle transactions using digital currencies.
“American Express and Discover have not announced anything specific to stablecoins, but they are mentioned in the Open Standard announcement,” Wester said, “It would make sense for them to support OUSD, along with other stablecoins, as well. There are many reasons why that works for banks and their clients. It puts the technology in the background.”
By and large, the involvement of multiple major payments companies suggests that stablecoins are being viewed less as a challenge to traditional finance and more as another layer of financial infrastructure.
Visa’s Long-Term Stablecoin Strategy
The Visa Settlement Platform is currently available in beta to select clients, with a wider rollout expected after additional testing and customer feedback. Visa has indicated that stablecoins and related initiatives are likely to develop over a longer timeframe.
Chris Suh, Visa’s Chief Financial Officer, told Fortune that the company’s stablecoin and agentic commerce initiatives are more likely to deliver meaningful results over a six-year horizon rather than within the next six months.
“The Visa and Mastercard message is essentially: You can do this without us, but we can make it easier,” said Wester. “They want to remain the interface and point of control for payments that no longer technically require them. That is what stablecoins were always supposed to do, make conventional monetary value internet-native and capable of moving outside the payment stack controlled by the networks.”
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