Crypto
Visa Launches Stablecoin Platform For Merchant Payments
Visa launched its Stablecoin Platform with OUSD, USDC and USDG support, bringing digital dollar payments closer to 200 million merchants worldwide.
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BLOCKINSIDERLoadingVisa launched its Stablecoin Platform with OUSD, USDC and USDG support, bringing digital dollar payments closer to 200 million merchants worldwide.
Payment giant Visa is expanding its crypto strategy with the launch of a new Stablecoin Platform that allows banks and fintech companies to issue, manage, and settle digital dollars through its global payment network.
The move marks another major step toward bringing stablecoins into everyday payments across more than 200 million merchant locations worldwide.
Visa has revealed its Visa Stablecoin Platform, a new infrastructure designed to help banks, fintech companies, and crypto firms integrate stablecoins into their existing payment and treasury operations.
Instead of building blockchain infrastructure from scratch, financial institutions can use Visa's platform to mint, burn, transfer, and manage stablecoins while continuing to operate through their existing banking systems.
Visa processes nearly $15 trillion in payments every year and already handles billions of dollars in stablecoin settlements. The company now wants to make those services available to its broader network of around 15,000 financial institutions and more than 200 million merchants.
According to Rubail Birwadker, Visa's global head of growth, the goal is not simply to give customers access to stablecoins, but to integrate them into existing treasury management, settlement, and money movement systems.
The platform launches with Open USD (OUSD) as its newest supported stablecoin while continuing support for Circle's USDC and Paxos' USDG.
Visa's decision reflects a broader multi-stablecoin strategy rather than relying on a single issuer.
OUSD was introduced just weeks ago by Open Standard, a consortium backed by major financial companies including Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, BlackRock and Coinbase. Unlike traditional stablecoin models, Open Standard distributes most reserve earnings back to participating partners instead of keeping them with the issuer alone.
That makes OUSD attractive for banks and payment providers looking to participate directly in the economics of stablecoin issuance.
At the same time, Visa continues supporting established regulated stablecoins such as USDC and USDG, giving customers greater flexibility based on their business and regulatory requirements.
Visa's latest launch comes as the world's biggest payment companies race to build stablecoin infrastructure.
Unlike PayPal, which launched its own PYUSD stablecoin, or Stripe, which expanded through its $1.1 billion acquisition of Bridge, Visa is taking a different approach by supporting multiple regulated stablecoins instead of promoting a single token.
Mastercard is also expanding its stablecoin business through partnerships and settlement services, but Visa already has an early lead, processing around $7 billion in stablecoin settlements and more than 90% of crypto-linked card payment volume.
By acting as the infrastructure connecting OUSD, USDC, and USDG, Visa is positioning itself as the payment network that can support whichever regulated stablecoins banks and businesses choose to use.
Visa remains the world's largest payments company, processing around $15 trillion in annual payment volume, ahead of Mastercard's $9 trillion.
The biggest goal of the Visa Stablecoin Platform is to make blockchain payments feel as simple as traditional payments.
Banks will be able to issue their own stablecoins, move funds between institutions, and settle transactions using blockchain without changing how they manage treasury operations.
For merchants, stablecoins could significantly reduce settlement times.
Instead of waiting one or more business days for payments to clear, transactions can settle almost instantly while remaining available around the clock.
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