Visa Official Announcement: Supporting USDC Stablecoin Settlement in the United States! Stablecoins Officially Enter the Core of Traditional Payments

2025-12-18 09:29:31

Visa officially announced on December 16th the launch of USDC stablecoin settlement functionality in the United States! This is not about retail users swiping cards to spend stablecoins, but allowing US issuing banks and acquirers to directly settle VisaNet obligations using Circle’s USDC. The pilot has already processed over $3.5 billion in annualized settlement volume, with initial participating banks including Cross River Bank and Lead Bank, utilizing the Solana blockchain. Coincidentally, Mastercard is also accelerating its stablecoin deployment in the Middle East. After the stablecoin legislation passes, payment giants are racing ahead—“Stablecoin = Real Money” is becoming an increasingly established fact!

Simplified Breakdown of Visa (Mastercard) Operation Mechanism

Many think Visa is a card issuer bank, but that’s not the case. Visa is a pure intermediary platform, mainly responsible for information routing, rule setting, and settlement coordination.

Visa’s three main stages explained

Stage	Operation Process	Key Role	Traditional Method
Stage 1: Authorization	Card swipe → Acquirer → VisaNet routing → Issuer checks balance → Approve/Reject	VisaNet (global processing network)	Real-time, completed in seconds
Stage 2: Clearing	End of daily batch, acquirer packages transaction data → VisaNet calculates net position (who owes whom)	VisaNet calculates net obligation	Daily netting, calculates each bank’s net amount
Stage 3: Settlement	Based on net position, instructs settlement bank to transfer funds (previously via wire transfer/Fedwire)	Settlement bank executes fund transfer	T+1 or slower, only on business days

Visa does not hold money or lend; it earns fees (network fees + assessment fees). It processes over 600 million transactions daily worldwide, with VisaNet as the core infrastructure.

What does Visa supporting USDC this time actually mean?

It’s not about consumers spending USDC with cards (front-end unchanged), but using stablecoins in the backend settlement phase.

Change Point	Before	Now (selected partners)	Benefits
Settlement Currency	Only fiat (USD transfers)	Direct USDC transfers to Visa wallet	Faster (instant on blockchain), available within 7 days (including weekends and holidays)
Participants	All banks (fiat)	Selected partners (first batch includes Cross River, Lead Bank, and other crypto-friendly banks)	Greater liquidity, enhanced operational resilience
Blockchain	None	Solana (initial), future support for Circle’s Arc (Visa will run validation nodes)	Automated vault management, seamless integration of traditional and blockchain systems
Scale	-	Over $3.5 billion annualized settlement volume (November data)	Pilot from 2021 experiment → 2023 official launch → US rollout by 2025

Plain translation: The money owed by banks to Visa (or Visa to banks), which used to be settled via bank transfer, can now be settled directly from crypto wallets using USDC. Consumer card experience remains unchanged, but backend efficiency is greatly improved.

Mastercard is also accelerating: stablecoin settlement in the Middle East

Almost simultaneously, Mastercard is expanding stablecoin settlement and tokenized asset use cases in the Middle East (in partnership with ADI Foundation). Previously in August, they partnered with Circle to enable USDC/EURC settlement in Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa. The two payment giants are moving in sync: Visa focusing on the US, Mastercard deepening in the Middle East/emerging markets.

Why is this so exciting? Stablecoins anchored more tightly to “real money”

Regulatory easing accelerates: The US Stablecoin GENIUS Act (passed July 2025) establishes a clear framework, with more friendly regulation during Trump’s second term.
Institutional demand-driven: Banks/fintechs proactively demand faster settlement, greater resilience, 24/7 availability.
Self-reinforcing cycle: The more people accept “Stablecoin = Real Money” (for core settlement), the more stable and money-like stablecoins become. Tighter anchoring leads to explosive adoption.
Not just pilot projects: From 2021 experiments → $3.5 billion annualized volume globally → US domestic rollout, stablecoins are moving from the periphery into the core of payments.

In the short term: selected partners (mainly crypto-related institutions).
In the long term: full-scale promotion expected by 2026, with more banks joining, making stablecoin settlement a mainstream option.

The era of stablecoins is not about “if it will come,” but “how fast it will arrive.”
Payment giants are already all-in—are you ready?
Comment below: Will this wave of stablecoin settlement double USDC’s market cap?
A. Definitely doubles
B. Steady growth
C. Limited impact
D. Still observing

Take one step at a time, opportunities always come with change!

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