Visa launches stablecoin platform for banks and fintechs

Visa has launched the Visa Stablecoin Platform, a new enterprise service that lets banks, fintechs and payment providers issue, hold and transfer stablecoins through Visa’s network while connecting those activities to existing payment, settlement and treasury workflows. The platform combines stablecoin minting and redemption, wallet infrastructure, treasury management, fund transfers, transaction approval controls and audit logs in a single system. Visa said the service is entering beta with select customers before a wider rollout. At launch, the platform supports OpenUSD, or OUSD, a stablecoin introduced by the Open Standard consortium in June, alongside Visa’s existing support for Circle’s USDC and Paxos’ USDG. Jack Forestell, Visa Chief Product and Strategy Officer, said the aim is to give institutions one place to "mint, move, and manage stablecoin operations" with enterprise controls and security. The rollout expands Visa’s broader stablecoin strategy as the market has grown to roughly $304 billion, according to CoinGecko. It follows Visa research published in October arguing stablecoins could move parts of the $40 trillion global credit market onto blockchain rails, its move in March to join the Canton Network as a Super Validator, and an April expansion of its stablecoin settlement program to nine blockchain networks. At that time, Visa said its annualized stablecoin settlement volume had reached $7 billion and that it supported more than 130 stablecoin-linked card programs across more than 50 countries.