Open USD

Stablecoin

United

Billion

<img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://blockchainreporter.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/bitcoin-visa-card-3.webp" alt="Visa Card" style="float: right; margin-left: 5px;" title="Visa Stablecoin Settlement Tops $25 Billion Annualized Run Rate, Up 10x Year-Over-Year 21">
<p>Visa’s stablecoin settlement business crossed a $25 billion annualized run rate in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, a tenfold increase from a year earlier, the payments network disclosed in its fiscal fourth-quarter and full-year results on October 27. The figure measures the pace at which the company settles transactions on stablecoin rails, not the total value settled over the year, and it is the clearest public number yet for a business that Visa executives had previously described only in directional terms. Chief Executive Officer Ryan McInerney put the milestone in plain terms on the accompanying earnings call: “In stablecoin settlement, our run rate has surpassed $25 billion in annualized volume, up 10x year-over-year. We can now support 10 blockchains, more than doubling from last year and are operating in all 5 regions.”</p>
<p>The disclosure arrived inside <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1403161/000140316126000126/q42026earningsrelease.htm" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Visa’s fiscal fourth-quarter results filed with the SEC</a>, which reported quarterly net revenue of $12.1 billion, up 13% year-over-year, and record full-year net revenue of $45.9 billion, up 15%. The stablecoin figures were not the headline of the release, which was led by McInerney’s broader framing of the year: “Visa delivered a milestone year. We achieved record net revenue of $46 billion, up 15%, the strongest growth in over 15 years excluding the post-pandemic recovery and acquisitions.” But for the crypto and payments infrastructure sectors, the stablecoin metrics carry the sharper signal: Visa is now operating settlement infrastructure across ten blockchains and has moved its stablecoin prefunding product out of testing.</p>
<h2 id="inside-visa-s-onchain-settlement-stack">Inside Visa’s Onchain Settlement Stack</h2>
<p>The earnings call detailed a stack that has grown well beyond a single blockchain or a single stablecoin. McInerney said Visa now supports ten blockchains in settlement, more than doubling from a year earlier, and five stablecoins, operating in all five of its geographic regions. The company has also positioned itself as infrastructure rather than a competing issuer. In the question-and-answer portion of the call, McInerney answered a direct question about whether Visa would favor one network or token with a formulation that defines the company’s stance: “We are stablecoin-agnostic. We are blockchain-agnostic.”</p>
<p>That neutrality is backed by validator and issuance roles that span rival networks. Visa said it was invited to the founding validator cohort for Circle’s ARC network, adding to its existing roles as a validator on Tempo and a super validator on Canton. On the issuance side, the Open USD token went live on September 30, with total supply in circulation surpassing $800 million through October 15. The most consequential operational change, however, is that Visa Direct’s stablecoin prefunding and cross-border money movement <a href="https://blockchainreporter.net/visa-stablecoin-payments-production/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">moved from pilot to commercial production</a>, with Inyo Global, a U.S.-based payments infrastructure provider, as the first live partner. McInerney described the shift directly: “Visa Direct’s stablecoin prefunding and cross-border money movement has moved from pilot to commercial production, and we have our first live partner, Inyo Global, a U.S.-based payments infrastructure provider.”</p>
<h2 id="what-10x-growth-looks-like-against-a-1-5-trillion-base">What 10x Growth Looks Like Against a $1.5 Trillion Base</h2>
<p>The 10x figure sounds dramatic until it is placed next to Visa’s existing money-movement franchise. Visa Direct processed more than 15 billion transactions in fiscal 2026, representing roughly $1.5 trillion in payments volume, according to the call. At a $25 billion annualized run rate, stablecoin settlement equals about 1.7% of that Visa Direct base, or roughly $68.5 million per day on average. The tenfold increase also means the comparable figure a year ago was only about $2.5 billion annualized, which underscores how small the starting point was rather than how large the business has become.</p>
<p>The card side is growing faster than the settlement side in percentage terms. Visa reported over 225 stablecoin-linked card programs, up more than 70% year-over-year, with volume growth above 150% across approximately 5 million cards in more than 50 countries. That split matters: program count rose about 70% while volume rose more than 150%, meaning spending per program is expanding roughly twice as fast as the number of programs, a sign the existing card base is becoming more active rather than Visa merely adding new shells. McInerney’s full accounting of the card footprint is worth recording verbatim because it enumerates the distribution: “We now have over 225 stablecoin-linked card programs, up more than 70% year-over-year with 150% plus growth in volume across 5 million cards in more than 50 countries with issuers across crypto exchanges, neobanks, wallets and remitters.”</p>
<h2 id="what-the-numbers-do-not-yet-prove">What the Numbers Do Not Yet Prove</h2>
<p>The run rate is a pace, not a settled total, and Visa has not broken out stablecoin revenue or margin separately in its filings. A tenfold increase in settlement does not by itself establish that stablecoins are displacing existing card or ACH volume; it may instead reflect new flows that previously moved outside Visa’s rails altogether. Visa’s own commentary keeps the size in proportion. Asked about agentic commerce, a related initiative, McInerney said the business “is still very early” and that in the context of Visa’s overall scale “it’s a very small amount,” a hedge the company has applied consistently to its newer money-movement and AI products even as it reports aggressive percentage growth.</p>
<p>There is also a structural caveat for any reader expecting the settlement figure to map directly onto card spending. The $25 billion run rate measures settlement between parties on stablecoin rails, while the 225 card programs represent a different activity layer in which Visa credentials let users spend crypto and stablecoin balances. The two metrics are related but not interchangeable, and Visa has not published a single consolidated figure that bridges them. For an institutional reader, the practical takeaway is narrower than the headline: Visa is building the rails first and monetizing through the card and <a href="https://blockchainreporter.net/visa-onchain-lending-stablecoin-card-financing/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">stablecoin card-financing</a> layers, and the settlement volume is the leading indicator of whether those rails are being used.</p>
<h2 id="the-next-test-production-rails-and-2027-renewals">The Next Test: Production Rails and 2027 Renewals</h2>
<p>The next verifiable markers are procedural rather than price-driven. Visa’s fiscal 2027 guidance calls for full-year adjusted net revenue growth in the low double digits, and management said roughly 25% of total payments volume is scheduled for contract renewal in 2027, up from 20% in fiscal 2026. The company also expects to close its pending $2.4 billion acquisition of behavioral-fraud provider BioCatch no later than the end of its fiscal second quarter. For the stablecoin business specifically, the signals to watch are whether the Visa Stablecoin Platform expands beyond its current six markets — the United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Switzerland and the United Kingdom — and whether Open USD’s circulating supply continues to grow past the $800 million level reported through October 15.</p>
<p>Visa said the stablecoin advisory practice inside its consulting unit was its fastest-growing practice in fiscal 2026, with over 60 unique engagements and nearly half of those projects occurring in the fourth quarter alone. McInerney framed the company’s posture toward the next year in terms of trust rather than a specific stablecoin target: “As we look to 2027 and beyond, trust is the next growth vector for Visa.” For the payments and digital-asset sectors, the operative question is no longer whether a major card network is building on stablecoin rails, but whether the 10x settlement growth compounds again in 2027 or flattens once the early onchain integrations are complete.</p>
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Visa Stablecoin Settlement Tops $25 Billion Annualized Run Rate, Up 10x Year-Over-Year

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