Visa Goes Multi-Chain: Expands Stablecoin Settlement to Nine Blockchains

Visa’s stablecoin settlement pilot has reached a $7 billion annualized run rate, prompting the payment giant to add support for Arc, Base, Canton, Polygon, and Tempo.

By Matthew Clarke | Edited by Julia Sakovich Published:
Visa’s infrastructure is evolving into a common settlement layer for a fragmented, multi-chain world. Photo: Pexels

The multi-chain future of global finance is no longer a theory; it’s a $7 billion-a-year reality. On April 29, 2026, Visa announced a massive expansion of its stablecoin settlement pilot, adding support for five new blockchains: Arc, Base, Canton, Polygon, and Tempo. This brings the total number of supported networks to nine, providing institutional partners with unprecedented choice in how they settle digital dollar transactions.

Scaling at $7 Billion: Momentum of Onchain Settlement

Visa’s pilot program isn’t just growing; it’s accelerating. The network reported a $7 billion annualized stablecoin settlement run rate, marking a staggering 50% increase over the previous quarter. This surge reflects a broader shift where stablecoins are moving out of the “experimental” phase and into mainstream treasury and payment flows.

“Our partners are building in a multi-chain world, and they expect their options to reflect that reality. Expanding our stablecoin settlement pilot program 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,” Rubail Birwadker, Global Head of Growth Products at Visa, stated.

Why the “Multi-Chain Reality” Matters

The move acknowledges a fundamental truth of the 2026 crypto landscape: liquidity is no longer concentrated in one place. Developers and institutions are choosing blockchains like they choose cloud providers based on specific geographic, regulatory, or performance requirements.

Visa is positioning itself as the “universal adapter.” By supporting nine different rails, they eliminate the underlying complexity for banks, who can now interact with multiple ecosystems through a single, trusted Visa connection.

This expansion supports Visa’s 130+ stablecoin-linked card programs across 50 countries, ensuring that a user in Brazil using a Polygon-based wallet and a user in Europe on a Canton-based institutional rail can both be serviced by the same global settlement logic.

Notably, Jesse Pollak (Founder of Base) and Nikhil Chandhok (Circle) both highlighted the rise of “agent-driven” economic activity. As AI agents begin to transact autonomously (as seen in yesterday’s Telegram/TON news), they require high-speed, low-cost rails like Base and Arc to settle instantly.

Bridging of Two Worlds

While traditional settlement rails (like SWIFT) remain the backbone of global finance, Visa is clearly building a “viable complement” using blockchain. By bringing its standards of security and reliability to these nine chains, Visa is effectively de-risking onchain settlement for the world’s largest financial institutions.

As Nikhil Chandhok of Circle put it, the demand for stablecoins like USDC to settle “today’s payment flows instantly” is only going up. With nine chains now under its belt, Visa is ready to handle that volume.

DeFi & FinTech, News
Exit mobile version