On Wednesday, Visa announced that it has added five new blockchains to its global stablecoin settlement pilot program, bringing the total number of supported networks to nine. Meanwhile, the company’s annualized settlement run rate has surged 50% since the last quarter to $7 billion.
This expansion adds support for five blockchains, including Arc, Base, Canton, Polygon, and Tempo. These networks will be integrated with Visa’s existing infrastructure on Avalanche, Ethereum, Solana, and Stellar.
According to the statement, the broader multi-chain initiative builds on Visa’s efforts to standardize settlement across decentralized blockchain networks while maintaining a single infrastructure layer for partners.
Visa’s stablecoin settlement pilot program has been operating for years in Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, Central Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Visa states that the company has recently expanded its USDC settlement services to U.S. banks and now supports over 130 stablecoin-linked credit card programs across more than 50 countries.
Analysts remain bullish on Visa's strategy.
Visa's latest expansion comes as William Blair analysts reaffirm their "Outperform" rating on the stock, noting that contributions from stablecoins, agency commerce, and Visa's broader suite of value-added services are underestimated.
Andrew Jeffrey’s team of analysts stated in a report to clients that Visa still has the ability to capture incremental transaction volume from stablecoin-based B2B settlements and views current activity as a small but growing component of its broader payment network.
The report also highlights Visa's involvement in emerging payment architectures, including agent-driven commerce and interoperability initiatives related to the European digital currency framework.
Analysts noted that the ongoing development of euro-related digital infrastructure could lead to medium-term regulatory headwinds, while pointing out that Visa has been seeking interoperability tools designed to connect central bank digital currency systems with existing payment channels.
Notably, Visa also stated on Tuesday that it is partnering with the "on-chain bank" company WeFi to leverage infrastructure for cryptocurrency payments, enabling consumers to take control of their cryptocurrencies.