Global payments giant Visa has expanded its stablecoin settlement pilot to include five additional blockchain networks, bringing the total number of supported chains to nine and signalling continued momentum in the company's push toward crypto-based payment infrastructure.

Nine Blockchains Now Supported

The pilot, first launched by Visa in 2023, allows partners to settle transactions using stablecoins rather than traditional banking rails. Newly added networks include Polygon, Base, the Canton Network, Arc and Tempo. They join existing supported chains including Ethereum, Solana, Stellar and Avalanche.

The expansion comes as the programme has reached an annualised settlement run rate of roughly $7 billion, growing approximately 50% quarter over quarter, according to Visa. Despite that growth, volume remains modest relative to the company's core payments business.

Stablecoin Payments Race Intensifies

The initiative is designed to evaluate whether stablecoins can offer faster settlement, round-the-clock availability and greater efficiencies in cross-border payments. Visa has been deepening its stablecoin focus in recent months, including an expanded partnership with Bridge, a subsidiary of Stripe, to support a global card programme enabling stablecoin-linked payments.

Competitors are also accelerating their activity. Mastercard has moved to enable stablecoin-linked card spending in the United States through integrations with wallets including MetaMask. Payments software provider Modern Treasury separately announced an integration with Polygon to help businesses move stablecoin payments faster.

Regulatory Clarity Fuels Institutional Momentum

In the United States, momentum has been shaped in part by the passage of the GENIUS Act, which establishes clearer regulatory standards for payment stablecoins. As regulatory clarity improves, both crypto-native companies and established fintechs are competing to build and control the infrastructure underpinning stablecoin payments, particularly the settlement layer that moves funds between institutions.

The total value of stablecoins in circulation has surpassed $320 billion, increasing nearly 150% since early 2024, according to DeFiLlama data. For Visa, the latest expansion underscores a broader strategic bet that stablecoins will become a meaningful component of global payment infrastructure, even as broader policy questions around yield-bearing stablecoins remain unresolved in proposed US market structure legislation.