Visa opens USDC settlement for U.S. banks on Solana

Visa is pushing stablecoin settlement into the U.S. banking system, and it is doing it with USDC, Circle, and two early banking partners, Cross River Bank and Lead Bank.

Visa will settle transactions over Solana, and it will back Circle’s coming Arc blockchain once that network goes live.

Visa has run tests abroad before this shift, but this rollout is the first time the company is wiring stablecoin settlement into U.S. banks.

Trump signed a federal stablecoin framework in July, and that law cleared the path for institutions to use fiat-backed digital dollars for domestic and cross-border payments.

Circle’s token is backed by dollar assets like Treasuries, giving banks a way to move money without actually touching traditional clearing rails that usually take days.

Expanding stablecoin settlement inside U.S. banks

Luca Cosentino, Cross River’s senior vice president of product, said demand from fintech and crypto companies is rising fast.

“There’s a new wave of demand coming from these fintech, crypto clients that are serving these new use cases, and for us, that demand is very big,” Luca said.

Companies are shipping payment cards tied to stablecoin balances, letting users spend digital dollars while merchants receive local currency.

Banks see this setup as a way to pull in new clients. Luca said the ability to settle card flows in stablecoins will help banks lure startups that need faster settlement for global users.

Long term, he said stablecoins will be a “no-brainer capability that will be increasingly adopted.”

Stablecoins are built to hold a steady value, and USDC stays tied to the U.S. dollar through one-to-one reserves. That structure is drawing big payment companies into the race. Analysts predict that stablecoins could handle more than $50 trillion in yearly payment flows by 2030.

Mastercard said in April it would let merchants take stablecoin payments, and Fortune reported in October that the company is in talks to buy crypto infrastructure firm Zero Hash.

Driving settlement growth across networks

Traditional banks have become more open about stablecoin plans this year as Trump eased federal pressure on digital assets.

Visa partnered earlier this year with Stripe on a tool called Bridge, giving fintechs a way to launch stablecoin card programs across several countries at once. It started in Latin America, where demand is concentrated because many local currencies swing sharply week to week.

Stablecoin rails also cut settlement times. Legacy payment rails can take up to three business days on Visa’s network. Blockchains settle around the clock, including weekends. Visa reported $3.5 billion in annualized stablecoin settlement volume as of November 30.

The number is growing fast, but it is still small next to the $17 trillion handled across the wider Visa network last year.

Visa now wants to anchor itself as the main settlement partner for companies building on stablecoins. The company launched a global advisory practice this week to guide banks, merchants, and fintechs that want to use digital-dollar rails.

Visa is also pushing its tokenized asset platform, which lets financial institutions issue fiat-backed tokens for their own programs.

The company is betting that stablecoins will sit at the center of payment flows in the years ahead. And with U.S. banks finally cleared to use them, Visa is moving early to lock in its spot.

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