Visa reported that the volume of stablecoin settlements on its network reached 20 billion dollars on an annualized basis — a 15-fold increase over the year. The figure looks dry until you remember what stands behind it: ordinary people pay with a card, while behind the scenes the money is no longer dollars in a bank but tokens on a blockchain that are converted instantly.
In the fiscal second quarter of 2026, more than 160 card programs tied to stablecoins were running on the Visa network. The volume of payments through them grew by almost 200 % compared with the previous year. The company emphasizes that this is one of the fastest-growing segments of its business. Behind each such payment lies a familiar scheme: the holder spends a stablecoin, the merchant receives fiat, and Visa handles the conversion and settlement.
The main hidden challenge is the need for working capital. Card issuers must fund settlements daily before they receive money from holders. For small programs, traditional credit lines prove inconvenient. Together with Credit Coop, Visa launched a stablecoin-denominated revolving credit line secured by settlement receivables. Since August 2023, the company Rain has already financed about 2 billion dollars through it with a zero default rate.
The growth shows how traditional financial infrastructure is adapting to crypto assets not for the hype, but for real demand. Stablecoins solve the problem of speed and accessibility of cross-border transfers, while Visa earns a fee for connecting the two worlds. At the same time, the risks do not disappear: volatility, regulatory questions and dependence on a few stablecoin issuers remain.
For the ordinary user, this means that soon paying with stablecoins will become as simple as with an ordinary card. Money ceases to be only a bank deposit — it becomes a hybrid that can be kept in a wallet and spent in an ordinary store. The question is not whether this will come into everyday life, but how quickly and on what terms.
According to Visa, such programs already operate in dozens of countries, and their number continues to grow. The company is expanding partnerships, including integration with Bridge and Zerohash for payouts via Visa Direct. This is not a replacement for banks, but a new layer that makes the movement of money cheaper and faster where the traditional rails were too slow or too expensive.
