Visa, a global leader in digital payments, has expanded its stablecoin settlement capabilities to include the high-performing Solana blockchain. The move comes in partnership with merchant acquirers Worldpay and Nuvei, aiming to modernize cross-border money movement and offer more payment options to merchants.

1/🏦Breaking: Visa Expands Stablecoin Settlement Pilot to Solana@Visa is scaling their USDC settlement pilot to include the Solana blockchain, enabling enterprise-grade throughput at virtually no cost for Visa issuers and merchant acquirers on Solana. https://t.co/rF5ouZaISM

— Solana (@solana) September 5, 2023

Pioneering stablecoin settlements across blockchains

Visa’s latest expansion is part of its strategy to leverage stablecoins and blockchain technology for faster and more efficient cross-border settlements. The company has already conducted live pilots, moving millions of USDC between its partners over both the Solana and Ethereum blockchain networks. These pilots were designed to settle fiat-denominated payments authorized over VisaNet, Visa’s global payment network that connects nearly 15,000 financial institutions and operates in more than 25 currencies globally.

Cuy Sheffield, Head of Crypto at Visa, emphasized the company’s commitment to being at the forefront of digital currency and blockchain innovation.

“By leveraging stablecoins like USDC and global blockchain networks like Solana and Ethereum, we’re helping to improve the speed of cross-border settlement and providing a modern option for our clients.”

Cuy Sheffield

Merchant acquirers embrace stablecoin payments

Worldpay and Nuvei, both global acquirers serving diverse sectors, joined forces with Visa to offer merchants the option to receive payments in stablecoins like USDC. This collaboration is expected to speed up settlement times and offer more diversified funding options to merchants, especially those interacting with the blockchain and crypto economy.

Jim Johnson, President of Worldpay Merchant Solutions, highlighted the benefits of Visa’s USDC settlement capabilities. He said:

“Diversifying funding options and increasing flexibility is critical to serving the changing needs of global merchants in today’s rapidly evolving commerce landscape.”

Jim Johnson, President of Worldpay Merchant solutions

It is important to know that the expansion of Visa’s USDC settlement process is a noteworthy development in the crypto industry. It is one of the many new crypto products or pilots that have been launched by payment companies this year, despite the ongoing regulatory scrutiny faced by the crypto industry from the federal government.

In February of this year, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reportedly issued a Wells Notice, which is a legal document indicating the agency’s intent to sue a company, to Paxos – a stablecoin issuer. As a result of the regulatory scrutiny, PayPal, which had partnered with Paxos to develop its own stablecoin, announced that it was “pausing” the development process. However, in August, the publicly traded payments firm went ahead with the launch of its stablecoin.