🇺🇸 Visa launches USDC settlement in the United States
On December 16, 2025, Visa announced the launch of USDC settlement in the U.S.
For the first time, U.S. issuers and acquirers can settle with Visa using USDC instead of fiat, without changing the consumer card experience.
The first participating banks are Cross River Bank and Lead Bank, already active with Visa’s USDC settlement on Solana. More partners are expected to join in 2026.
🧩 How it works
Nothing changes for card users.
The innovation happens behind the scenes:
instead of settling only through traditional banking rails,
some banks can now settle obligations with Visa in USDC, moving value on-chain.
This enables:
faster settlement
24/7 availability
improved operational resilience for treasury and liquidity management
Visa reports ~$3.5B annualized stablecoin settlement volume as of November 30, 2025 — this is already operating at real scale.
🌶️ Why this is bigger than “Visa doing crypto”
This is an infrastructure move, not a marketing one:
stablecoins used as bank settlement rails, not just for trading
reduced friction around liquidity timing, especially outside banking hours
groundwork for more programmable B2B payment flows in the future
In short: stablecoins move deeper into the plumbing of payments.
🔗 Strategic layer: Circle’s Arc
Visa also confirmed it is a design partner of Arc, Circle’s upcoming Layer-1 blockchain (currently in testnet), with plans to:
use Arc for future USDC settlement
potentially operate a validator node once the network goes live
📌 Implications
Potential beneficiaries (narratives):
USDC / compliance-first stablecoins gaining bank-grade use cases
Solana as an early settlement rail in bank → Visa flows
What to monitor:
expansion to more U.S. banks
whether other networks are added alongside Solana
how stablecoin settlement volumes evolve in 2026
