Visa Inc. has announced a major expansion of its stablecoin settlement infrastructure, enabling U.S. banks and financial institutions to settle transactions using Circle’s $USDT Coin (USDC) on blockchain networks — including Solana — as part of its ongoing strategy to modernize payments and liquidity management. The move expands Visa’s on-chain settlement options for institutional clients and reflects growing demand for digital-asset-enabled payment rails.
The initiative lets U.S. issuers and acquirers settle obligations in USDC instead of relying solely on traditional fiat rails, helping institutions manage treasury operations more flexibly and potentially reduce settlement times and costs. Visa’s expanded stablecoin settlement runs on supported blockchains with Solana offering faster and lower-cost transaction capabilities compared with conventional rails.
How the stablecoin settlement works
Under the new framework, participating financial institutions can settle Visa obligations in $USDC directly via supported blockchain networks — including Solana — which provides 7-day settlement windows rather than being restricted to standard banking hours. The settlement process uses Circle’s $USDC , a dollar-pegged stablecoin already widely adopted by banks and crypto innovators for digital payments and liquidity transfers.
Visa’s settlement expansion allows treasury and payment flows to be modernized by using blockchain-based settlement rails that operate outside traditional banking cutoff times, a shift that could improve liquidity management for banks and fintechs.
