Visa’s stablecoin settlement reaches $7B across 9 chains

Visa announced on April 29 that its global stablecoin settlement pilot now operates on nine blockchains and reached a $7 billion annualized run rate in April 2026, a 50% increase from the prior quarter. The company said the $7 billion number represents live transaction volume, not projections.

The program added Arc, Base, Canton, Polygon and Tempo to the four networks it began with-Avalanche, Ethereum, Solana and Stellar. Visa said the pilot supports more than 130 stablecoin-linked card programs across over 50 countries and has run live tests and regional rollouts in Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Visa reported the run rate doubled since December 2025, when USDC settlement was extended to U.S. institutions and monthly volume then equated to a $3.5 billion annualized run rate.

Each blockchain added serves a different operational need. Arc, built by Circle, targets programmable commerce and real-time settlement using USDC. Base, developed by Coinbase, focuses on fast, low-cost transactions. Canton is designed for regulated capital markets and offers configurable privacy. Polygon provides high-throughput infrastructure for large payment volumes. Tempo aims at private, efficient movement of stablecoin liquidity.

Rubail Birwadker, Visa’s global head of growth products and strategic partnerships, said: “Our partners are building in a multi-chain world, and they expect their options to reflect that reality. Expanding our stablecoin settlement pilot program to more blockchains means our partners can choose the networks that best fit their needs, while relying on Visa to provide a common settlement layer across all of them.”

Jesse Pollak, founder of Base, described the integration as moving stablecoin payments closer to daily use for billions of people. Marc Boiron, CEO of Polygon Labs, said adding Polygon indicates stablecoins are entering real-world payments at scale. Eric Saraniecki, head of network strategy at Digital Asset and co-founder of the Canton Network, noted the arrangement lets regulated institutions explore on-chain settlement while observing compliance requirements. Nikhil Chandhok, Circle’s chief product and technology officer, pointed to Arc’s capacity for real-time settlement. Ani Narayan of Tempo said Visa acting as both a validator and settlement partner supports always-on programmable payments.

Visa said practical effects for issuers and acquirers include faster settlement times, 24/7 availability and more flexibility in managing liquidity across blockchains. The company also said it continues to meet the reliability and security standards expected of its traditional rails.

Visa began testing USDC settlement in 2021 with pilots on Solana. The company listed partners on the expanded platform, including Circle, Coinbase and Polygon, and described the nine-chain setup as a common settlement layer across a distributed stablecoin ecosystem.