Visa | Crypto

The remittance giant is rolling out Stablecard across 37 markets, targeting cross-border payments and consumers seeking US dollar-denominated savings in volatile economies. Western Union has partnered with stablecoin infrastructure provider Rain to launch Stablecard, a digital wallet and Visa-branded card that enables users to hold and spend a US dollar-backed stablecoin, marking one of the company’s biggest moves into blockchain-based payments. On Wednesday, Western Union said Stablecard allows users to hold, receive, transfer and spend USDPT, a US dollar-backed stablecoin issued by Anchorage Digital Bank on the Solana blockchain. Stablecard launched in 37 markets, with Western Union aiming to expand availability to more than 60 markets by the end of the year. Users can receive Western Union money transfers directly into a USDPT wallet, transfer funds to compatible crypto wallets and exchanges and spend their balances anywhere Visa is accepted, including through Apple Pay and Google Pay. Read more

Visa said it is investing across the stablecoin stack, highlighting OpenUSD, tokenized deposits and AI-powered commerce during the company’s third-quarter earnings call. Visa reported fiscal third-quarter revenue of $11.6 billion, up 14% from a year earlier, driven by double-digit growth in payments volume, cross-border volume and processed transactions. During the company’s earnings call, Visa outlined its broader stablecoin strategy, saying it has been investing across multiple layers of the stablecoin ecosystem. The company said: Visa added that it had joined the OpenStandard consortium, which plans to issue the OpenUSD stablecoin for global money movement. The company said the Visa stablecoin platform is designed to enable partners to settle with Visa in stablecoins, provide onchain wallet-as-a-service infrastructure and move money between fiat currencies and stablecoins, beginning with OpenUSD. Read more

Visa said it is investing across the stablecoin stack, highlighting OpenUSD, tokenized deposits and AI-powered commerce during the company’s third-quarter earnings call. Visa reported fiscal third-quarter revenue of $11.6 billion, up 14% from a year earlier, driven by double-digit growth in payments volume, cross-border volume and processed transactions. During the company’s earnings call, Visa outlined its broader stablecoin strategy, saying it has been investing across multiple layers of the stablecoin ecosystem. The company said: Visa added that it had joined the OpenStandard consortium, which plans to issue the OpenUSD stablecoin for global money movement. The company said the Visa stablecoin platform is designed to enable partners to settle with Visa in stablecoins, provide onchain wallet-as-a-service infrastructure and move money between fiat currencies and stablecoins, beginning with OpenUSD. Read more

Visa launched a stablecoin platform that lets banks and fintechs issue, manage and settle digital dollars through its payments network.

Visa and Artemis found that infrastructure bottlenecks are preventing broader commercial adoption of the autonomous AI agent economy. Artificial intelligence (AI) agents are posing a challenge to the incumbent global card payments infrastructure that is struggling to process high-frequency micropayments, according to a joint report released by payments giant Visa and investment thesis platform Artemis. The joint report published Wednesday found that traditional cards were built for human commerce with low-frequency transactions, which is insufficient for AI agents, which need infrastructure with near-zero fees and faster settlement to make agentic micropayments commercially viable. New infrastructure is increasingly necessary since AI agents crossed a key capability threshold in mid-2025, enabling them to discover unfamiliar APIs, evaluate prices and decide on autonomous payments. Read more

Stablecoins have rarely had more policy attention than they do in 2026. Lawmakers, payment companies, and crypto firms are treating dollar tokens as infrastructure rather than a side market. However, the most visible demand signals now point the other way. Search volume for “stablecoins” was down 54% month over month in June, based on annualized […] The post Stablecoin demand starts to fade as Visa and Stripe build for the next boom appeared first on CryptoSlate.

The card will allow MiniPay's 16 million users to spend stablecoins through Visa's network as adoption of digital dollars grows across emerging markets. MiniPay has launched a Visa debit card that allows users in selected markets across Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia and Europe to make purchases using stablecoins. According to Tuesday's announcement, the card is powered by Gnosis Pay's infrastructure, enabling users to pay directly from their MiniPay wallets while merchants receive local currency through Visa's network. MiniPay said it has grown to more than 16 million activated wallets across 65 countries since launching in 2023, with much of its adoption concentrated in Africa and other emerging markets. Read more

Visa is testing private stablecoin settlement on Canton with Brale, exploring whether institutions can use blockchain without exposing sensitive transaction data. Visa is testing whether privacy-enabled blockchain networks can support institutional stablecoin settlement without exposing sensitive transaction data, in a proof of concept with stablecoin infrastructure company Brale and the Canton Network, a permissioned ledger backed by major Wall Street firms. The project, announced Thursday, uses SBC, a US dollar-backed stablecoin issued by Brale, to simulate institutional payment flows on Canton as Visa evaluates whether SBC could become another stablecoin option in its settlement program. The initiative extends Visa’s earlier experiments using stablecoins for settlement on public blockchains, which began in 2021 with USDC settlement on Ethereum but now target banks and market infrastructure providers that want onchain efficiency without broadcasting counterparties, positions or flows on a public ledger. Rea...

The new API lets AI agents make purchases with eligible Visa cards using tokenized credentials and spending controls, expanding payment options for autonomous software. Crossmint, a stablecoin and wallet infrastructure provider, launched an API that enables AI agents to make payments using eligible Visa credit and debit cards, bringing physical card-based transactions to agent platforms. According to Tuesday's announcement, the service uses Visa Intelligent Commerce and Basis Theory's payment infrastructure to allow AI agents to make purchases without access to users' card numbers while operating within predefined spending limits. Crossmint said the payment capability is available through its lobster.cash tool, which can be connected to platforms including Claude Code, OpenClaw, Hermes and Zo Computer. Developers can immediately integrate the payment system through the company's API and documentation. Read more

Stablecoins were built on the premise that removing intermediaries between sender and recipient would erode the relevance of legacy payment networks, but the fastest-growing consumer stablecoin product depends entirely on one. Data reported by The Kobeissi Letter shows crypto-card spending reached roughly $600 million per month, with $7.2 billion in cumulative on-chain card volume across […] The post Stablecoins were supposed to bypass credit cards, but now Visa is winning crypto card payments appeared first on CryptoSlate.

The Agent Cards launched to a select group of businesses on Thursday, with a limited number of additional companies set to gain access over the next two months. Crypto wallet startup Oobit has launched a Visa-supported virtual card for AI agents to make online purchases in USDT on behalf of businesses without human intervention. The Agent Cards are funded directly from stablecoin issuer Tether’s treasury, meaning no fiat on-ramp or conversions are needed for AI agents to top up USDt (USDT) balances and make online purchases, Oobit said on Thursday. The Tether-backed startup said the AI agents could use the cards to do anything from renewing a software-as-a-service subscription to topping up an advertising budget or even “spinning up cloud infrastructure at 3am because a workflow told it to.”  Read more

Visa said its settlement pilot for stablecoins now supports nine blockchains and has reached a run rate of $7 billion a year. The company announced on April 29 that it added Arc, Base, Canton, Polygon and Tempo to a pilot that already used Avalanche, Ethereum, Solana and Stellar. Visa said the annualized settlement run rate […] The post Visa is quietly building stablecoins into mainstream payment plumbing without you knowing appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Visa broadens its crypto pilot to nine blockchains as stablecoin volumes grow, highlighting early traction for onchain settlement in global payments. Global payments giant Visa has expanded its stablecoin settlement pilot to include Polygon and four other blockchain networks, signaling continued experimentation with crypto-based payment infrastructure. The pilot, launched by Visa in 2023, allows partners to settle transactions using stablecoins rather than traditional banking rails. Newly supported networks include Polygon, Base, the Canton Network, Arc and Tempo. They join existing supported chains such as Ethereum, Solana, Stellar and Avalanche. The expansion comes as the program has reached an annualized settlement run rate of roughly $7 billion, growing about 50% quarter over quarter, according to Visa. Despite that growth, volume remains small compared to the company’s core payments business. Read more

The payments giant is operating a validator node on the Tempo blockchain, taking a direct role in transaction validation as it expands infrastructure for stablecoin settlement. Visa has launched a validator node on the Tempo blockchain, taking a direct role in verifying and processing transactions on a network designed for real-time stablecoin payments. Visa said the node is operated in-house using its own infrastructure and was developed over six months working with Tempo’s engineering team, positioning the company as an “anchor validator” alongside early participants including Stripe and Zodia Custody. The role places Visa in the transaction validation layer, where it helps order and confirm payments while supporting network security and performance during the network’s early phase. Read more

The platform aims to help businesses issue stablecoin-funded cards is aimed at using digital dollar balances at the point of sale using existing card networks. Global payments infrastructure provider Nium has launched a platform that allows businesses to issue stablecoin-funded cards through Visa and Mastercard, in the latest development enabling digital dollar balances to be spent at merchants using existing card networks. Nium said the system converts stablecoin balances into fiat at the point of sale and handles settlement, compliance and card network integration through a single integration. The tech company said it expects to be able to shorten the time required to launch stablecoin card programs from months to days by consolidating conversion, settlement and compliance into a single integration layer. Read more

Mastercard agreed to pay up to $1.8 billion for BVNK, a stablecoin infrastructure firm that connects blockchain payments with traditional banking rails. The deal includes $300 million in contingent payments and closes what Mastercard told investors would have taken too long to build internally: the ability to move money seamlessly across fiat and on-chain systems […] The post Crypto tried to cut out Visa and Mastercard — now they’re buying up blockchain companies appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Visa and Stripe-owned Bridge aim to expand stablecoin-linked Visa cards to 18 countries, and plan 100-plus by the end of the year, while testing stablecoin settlement with Lead Bank. Global payment giant Visa is expanding its stablecoin card partnership with Stripe-owned Bridge, expanding the rollout of stablecoin-linked Visa cards worldwide and testing onchain settlement. Visa and Bridge are expanding their joint card program to 18 countries, with plans to reach more than 100 across Europe, Asia-Pacific, Africa and the Middle East by the end of the year, according to a Tuesday announcement. The expansion follows the program’s initial launch in April 2025, which first supported markets in Latin America, including Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Chile. Read more

Bridge has partnered with Lead Bank, a participant in Visa’s stablecoin settlement pilot, to help businesses and fintechs offer stablecoin-backed Visa cards.

The Dutch electronic money issuer will act as a BIN sponsor for fintech partners, linking regulated dollar- and euro-denominated tokens to mainstream card rails. Dutch payments company Quantoz Payments has become a principal member of Visa, enabling it to issue virtual debit cards backed by its regulated e-money tokens and sponsor third-party fintechs seeking to offer stablecoin-linked payment products across Europe. Under the agreement, Quantoz will be able to issue Visa-branded virtual cards tied to balances held in its USDQ, EURQ and EURD e-money tokens, allowing users to spend those funds online, in stores and through mobile wallets. The company will also act as a BIN sponsor, enabling fintech partners to embed card issuance directly into their platforms. Read more

At Davos, Jeremy Allaire said Circle's stablecoin functions as shared infrastructure rather than a competitor to banks or card networks. Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said the company views its dollar-pegged stablecoin as neutral financial infrastructure with network effects, rather than a product meant to compete with existing payment companies. Speaking on CNBC’s Squawk Box during the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, Allaire said Circle does not view card networks such as Visa or Mastercard as competitors, describing them instead as “significant partners.” According to Allaire, stablecoins are “network effect businesses,” with usage and circulation increasing as more developers and institutions integrate, adding that Circle operates as a “neutral company” that does not compete with banks, payment companies or exchanges. Read more