Visa, Brale test private dollar stablecoin on Canton

Visa and Brale launched a proof-of-concept in 2026 to test SBC, a U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin, for private institutional settlement on the Canton Network. The trial will run on Canton’s permissioned, privacy-focused infrastructure and will involve institutional payment flows.

The project will evaluate whether Canton’s privacy architecture and SBC’s programmability can support faster settlement while keeping transaction details restricted to authorized parties. The companies will test typical bank and payment firm scenarios to assess operational and compliance fit.

Canton limits the visibility of transaction information compared with many public blockchains, allowing participants to use shared infrastructure without exposing sensitive data to all network users. The partners will examine whether those visibility controls meet banks’ requirements and whether programmable features such as conditional payments and automated netting function in real-world flows.

The initiative pairs Visa’s payments infrastructure with Brale’s SBC, which is natively supported on Canton. Because SBC runs on a permissioned ledger, the trial will focus on privacy-preserving settlement rather than public-ledger transparency.

Visa began enabling stablecoin settlement in 2021 and now supports settling VisaNet obligations with selected stablecoins. The company noted the proof-of-concept will help determine whether SBC can serve as an additional dollar-backed option for institutional settlement cases.

Cuy Sheffield, head of crypto at Visa, commented: “Stablecoin settlement has shown how blockchain infrastructure can improve the speed and efficiency of money movement.” Ben Milne, founder and CEO of Brale, added that financial institutions are seeking stablecoin infrastructure that aligns with operational, regulatory and privacy needs and that the collaboration is a step toward making stablecoin-based settlement more practical for real-world payment flows.

The proof-of-concept is exploratory. Visa and Brale will use the results to decide whether to expand SBC support or adopt Canton-style privacy features more broadly. Market participants continue to evaluate private and permissioned blockchain options to meet institutional needs for confidentiality, compliance and interoperability.