VISA increases stablecoin settlement, making crypto payments more and more certain.

Writing by: Lawyer Shao Jiandian

Opening reminder: This article discusses global trends in crypto payments and stablecoin settlements, mainly focusing on overseas payment institutions like Visa, overseas stablecoin payment infrastructure, and related international regulatory frameworks. The terms “crypto payments,” “stablecoin receipt and payment,” “U Card,” etc., are not targeted at the Mainland Chinese market and do not constitute advice for residents of Mainland China to participate in virtual currency trading, payments, investments, or related activities. China’s mainland has clear regulatory requirements for virtual currency-related businesses, and relevant institutions and individuals should strictly comply with current laws, regulations, and regulatory policies.

Visa has recently added fuel to the crypto payment industry again. On April 29, 2026, Visa announced the continued expansion of its global stablecoin settlement pilot, adding five new blockchain networks, bringing the total number of supported blockchains in its stablecoin settlement pilot to nine; at the same time, Visa disclosed that the annualized scale of stablecoin settlement in this pilot has reached $7 billion, a 50% increase from the previous quarter.

The above image is from VISA’s official website. If you only see this news as “Visa is also working on stablecoins,” you’re missing the point. Visa isn’t just now dipping its toes into stablecoin payments. It has long been conducting pilots around USDC, card issuers, acquirers, and on-chain settlements. As early as January this year, Reuters reported that Visa was integrating stablecoins into existing payment systems and had piloted allowing some banks in the U.S. to settle with USDC through Visa, with an annualized stablecoin settlement scale of about $4.5 billion disclosed at that time.

Therefore, what’s truly noteworthy this time isn’t Visa “suddenly embracing stablecoins,” but that it is continuously increasing its efforts, and the focus isn’t on superficial marketing but on the underlying settlement layer of the payment network. This indicates that crypto payments are shifting from a product story within the Web3 circle to a foundational infrastructure that traditional payment giants are seriously investing in. In today’s market where many Web3 narratives are no longer exciting, this change is especially worth the attention of entrepreneurs and investors.

Visa’s continued investment shows that stablecoin settlement is no longer just a testing ground. Many Web3 news stories—announcements of strategic partnerships, ecosystem collaborations, or technical integrations—may seem grand but often amount to little in actual business. However, this Visa news is different because it’s not a one-off PR stunt but a continuation of ongoing actions. The new supported blockchains include Arc, Base, Canton, Polygon, and Tempo, in addition to previously supported Avalanche, Ethereum, Solana, and Stellar, forming a nine-chain stablecoin settlement pilot network.

The clear signal behind this is that Visa isn’t betting on a single chain nor doing a one-time experiment; it’s building a multi-chain settlement network. More importantly, the scenario Visa emphasizes isn’t “users spending stablecoins,” but “issuer/acquirer settlement,” i.e., the settlement arrangements between card issuers, acquirers, and the Visa network. This is very interesting because front-end payments are often easy to package as marketing stories, but back-end settlement is hard to support with just concepts. The key questions are whether costs can be reduced, efficiency improved, transactions penetrated, risks managed, and whether financial institutions can accept it—all of which are unavoidable.

If stablecoins only stay within exchange platforms, they are merely liquidity tools for the crypto asset market. But if stablecoins enter the settlement layer of payment networks, they begin to become a form of financial infrastructure. This is the most important aspect of Visa’s recent expansion. It’s no longer about debating whether “stablecoins can be used for payments,” but about how mainstream payment networks are using their own methods to answer: stablecoins can serve as a supplementary settlement tool for traditional payment systems. This answer carries more weight than any Web3 project’s self-promotion.

Many stories in Web3 are losing their appeal, but payments still have a story to tell. Today, the Web3 industry faces a clear change: many narratives are hard to tell anymore. Public chains are overly competitive, DeFi is aging, NFTs are cold, GameFi is virtual, and AI + Crypto often turns into a collage of concepts. The era where market expectations could be supported by a grand narrative, a beautiful white paper, or an ecosystem fund is no longer as easy as before. But payments are different. Payments are not just a story—they are about capital flow.

A foreign trade company needs to collect money from overseas clients—that’s not a story. A Web3 company needs to pay salaries to global employees—that’s not a story. An exchange needs to handle local deposits and withdrawals—that’s not a story. An RWA project needs to manage investor subscriptions and redemptions—that’s not a story. A wallet connecting users’ stablecoin balances to real consumption scenarios—that’s not a story.

All of these are real business needs happening every day.

This is also why crypto payments are more worth watching today. They may not be the most glamorous, but they are closest to money; they may not be the easiest to mythologize, but they are the easiest to generate revenue from; they may not excite the market overnight, but they are used daily by customers.

Many Web3 projects face the question: why do users have to use your platform?

But the logic of payment business is more straightforward: as long as you can make money transfer faster, cheaper, more stable, and more accessible, there is business value. This value doesn’t require much imagination. High costs, slow settlement, long banking chains, uncertain weekends and holidays, frozen accounts, underdeveloped financial infrastructure in emerging markets—these issues have always existed. Stablecoins aren’t a panacea, but they do provide a new pathway for value transfer. Therefore, Visa’s continued investment in stablecoin settlement isn’t an isolated event. It simply makes an ongoing trend more obvious: stablecoin payments are moving from “crypto tool” to “payment infrastructure.” Why crypto payments are still one of the few worthwhile directions to pursue—it’s not because they are new, but because they are practical. This phrase may sound unexciting, but it’s very important. Today, many Web3 startups are still searching for the “next narrative,” but payments don’t need to be invented as a new story. Business scenarios like enterprise collections, user payments, merchant settlements, platform revenue sharing, cross-border remittances, stablecoin deposits and withdrawals, RWA subscriptions and redemptions—these already exist. Crypto payments are simply reassembling stablecoins, wallets, on-chain transfers, fiat channels, payment networks, and compliance systems to make capital flow operate in a new way.

There are at least three reasons why this track is worth continued investment.

First, the demand is sufficiently real.

Regardless of market bull or bear, businesses need to receive money, make payments, and settle. Especially in cross-border scenarios, traditional banking systems are not always cheap, fast, stable, or friendly. For small and medium-sized enterprises, cross-border e-commerce, Web3 teams, freelancers, overseas service providers, and users in emerging markets, stablecoin payments are no longer an abstract concept but a tangible alternative.

Second, stablecoins have already formed an de facto on-chain dollar network.

USDT, USDC, and similar stablecoins are no longer just valuation tools on exchanges. They are becoming dollar liquidity tools for many on-chain applications, cross-border transactions, capital flows in emerging markets, and Web3 enterprise operations. As long as stablecoins continue to be used, there will be demand for related payment, exchange, custody, settlement, risk control, and compliance services.

Third, the entry of giants won’t eliminate entrepreneurial opportunities but will instead mature the market.

Visa, Mastercard, Circle, Stripe—these institutions are better at building underlying networks, clearing standards, large institutional clients, and global partnerships. But in specific countries, industries, clients, and scenarios, there remains a need for many middle-layer and application-layer service providers. Some will develop U cards, some will handle merchant acquiring, some will build enterprise wallets, OTC channels, stablecoin deposit and withdrawal services, cross-border B2B payments, RWA subscription and redemption, on-chain payroll, payment APIs, or stablecoin settlement networks.

These directions may seem different but fundamentally revolve around one question: how to enable stablecoins to complete receipt, payment, exchange, and settlement in real-world business. The future crypto payment industry is likely to be a multi-layer structure: the bottom layer being stablecoin issuers, chains, and settlement networks; the middle layer composed of licensed payment institutions, card issuers, acquirers, and liquidity providers; and the top layer including wallets, merchants, corporate clients, industry scenarios, and user interfaces. Startups don’t necessarily have to build the bottom layer but can specialize deeply in a certain area, client type, or scenario. For example, focusing on stablecoin payments for cross-border e-commerce sellers; providing payroll and expense services for Web3 companies; serving RWA projects’ subscription and redemption; handling exchange wallet deposits and withdrawals for exchanges; offering stablecoin settlement for foreign trade enterprises; managing stablecoin and fiat liquidity for high-net-worth clients. These are not just storytelling businesses. As long as they solve real customer capital flow problems, there is room for revenue. In today’s environment where overall Web3 narratives are cooling, crypto payments are becoming a more certain direction due to real demand, big players’ involvement, and regulatory compliance. The trend may pass, but the flow of funds will not disappear.

The better the track, the less it can be approached with wild methods. Crypto payments are not a field that can be run long-term with reckless tactics. The reason is simple: it involves money. Once money is involved, regulation will inevitably come into play. Different models of “stablecoin payments” may only be technical services, or they may already constitute virtual asset services, remittances, currency exchanges, merchant acquiring, or even trigger regulations on stored-value tools, electronic money, or payment institutions. The most typical example is U cards. Many think U cards are just “user loads U, then swipes for consumption.” But when you look deeper, many issues arise: who issues the card? Who holds the user’s stablecoins? Who completes the stablecoin exchange? What is the nature of the user’s balance? What do merchants receive? Who bears refunds and chargebacks? Who is responsible for KYC? Which countries’ users cannot be served? Can the app be listed locally? The same applies to merchant stablecoin payments. If the platform only provides plugins, risks are limited; but if the platform helps merchants collect stablecoins, pool funds, convert to local fiat, and make payouts, it’s no longer just a technical service but may involve custody, exchange, settlement, and merchant acquiring.

Therefore, stronger certainty in crypto payments does not mean lower barriers. On the contrary, the more certain the track, the more serious the regulation; the bigger the players, the harder it is to run wild. If you truly want to enter this space, you must think beyond products and channels and clarify your business structure: Are you building wallets, exchanges, remittance, acquiring, issuing, settlement, or custody? Which part of the fund flow do you control? Which entities sign contracts with users? Which partners bear licensing obligations? Which countries can you serve, and which must be blocked? How do you embed user agreements, risk disclosures, AML procedures, and on-chain risk controls into your business processes? These are not just formalities but core parts of your business model.

Today, the biggest risk in crypto payments isn’t lack of opportunity. It’s realizing the opportunity, building the product, only to find from day one that you’re operating with an incorrect structure. Visa’s actions show that the path of stablecoin payments is becoming broader. But a broader road doesn’t mean you can drive blindly.