More than 160 stablecoin-linked card programs are now active worldwide, while onchain lending is emerging as a new way to finance around-the-clock settlement.
Visa’s stablecoin ecosystem is rapidly moving beyond the experimental stage. The company says stablecoin settlement volume has exceeded a $20 billion annualized run rate, representing growth of more than 15 times compared with a year earlier.
At the same time, more than 160 stablecoin-connected card programs are now operating globally, while payment volume generated by those programs has increased by nearly 200% year over year.
The rapid expansion is creating a new challenge for the financial infrastructure supporting these products: how to provide enough working capital to keep up with an always-on payment network.
Stablecoin-Linked Cards Are Scaling Rapidly
Stablecoins are becoming increasingly integrated into traditional card infrastructure, with Visa now supporting more than 160 related programs worldwide.
The scale of the network is reflected in several metrics:
- $20 billion+: Annualized stablecoin settlement volume
- 15x+: Growth compared with the previous year
- 160+: Stablecoin-linked card programs globally
- ~200%: Year-over-year growth in payment volume
The numbers suggest that stablecoin-based cards are evolving into a meaningful component of the payments ecosystem rather than remaining a niche crypto product.
But increasing transaction volume also creates pressure on the financial systems responsible for settling those payments.
The Hidden Challenge: Financing Settlement
Card payments typically create a timing gap.
A card issuer must settle transactions with merchants and the broader payment network before receiving repayment from its customers. Traditional financial institutions generally manage this gap through mechanisms such as warehouse credit facilities or securitization.
Stablecoin card programs can operate differently.
Many emerging issuers may need only a few million dollars of liquidity at any given time, but their settlement activity can occur seven days a week.
That combination creates a financing challenge.
Traditional credit facilities may be too expensive, cumbersome or slow to establish for smaller programs that need capital to be repeatedly drawn and repaid as transactions settle.
As a result, Visa says some stablecoin card businesses may be constrained less by consumer demand than by their ability to obtain suitable working capital.
Credit Coop Moves Settlement Financing Onchain
Credit Coop, working alongside Visa, has developed a stablecoin-denominated revolving credit facility designed to address this financing gap.
The system relies on a smart contract known as Spigot, which directs settlement receivables and automates repayment servicing.
Rather than relying entirely on the conventional lender lockbox model, the process uses blockchain-based infrastructure to coordinate the flow of funds.
The platform has already processed more than 9,000 onchain repayments.
Credit Coop also receives authorized Visa settlement information directly. This allows lenders to compare payment-network data with a borrower’s onchain repayment history.
According to the supplied figures, that additional visibility has helped reduce borrowing costs for participating programs by as much as 30%.
More Than $2.5 Billion Financed
Rain, a Visa Principal Member, has been one of the early users of the financing model, using Credit Coop to support daily settlement requirements since August 2023.
Credit Coop reports that its platform has now:
- Financed more than $2.5 billion in cumulative volume
- Processed more than 3,000 borrowing events
- Executed more than 9,000 repayments
- Recorded zero defaults
These figures point toward a potentially important use case for onchain credit: financing predictable payment receivables while giving lenders near-real-time visibility into repayment activity.
Karta Shows How Onchain Credit Can Build a Track Record
Karta also adopted the model while developing its credit history.
The company subsequently secured a $125 million institutional credit facility as part of a larger $140 million financing package.
That progression could be significant for the broader financial sector.
If blockchain-based settlement financing can help newer payment companies establish a verifiable borrowing and repayment history, it could potentially provide a bridge between crypto-native businesses and traditional institutional lenders.
Stablecoin Growth Is Creating a New Credit Market
The significance of Visa’s stablecoin expansion goes beyond the number of cards or the amount of transaction volume.
As stablecoins become integrated into card payments, they are also generating a growing pool of payment receivables that can potentially be financed, monitored and serviced through onchain infrastructure.
That creates an intersection between three traditionally separate areas:
Stablecoins → Card Payments → Onchain Credit
The development could eventually allow lenders to assess payment activity and repayment performance using a combination of traditional network information and blockchain-based data.
Financing Could Become the Next Growth Bottleneck
Visa’s more than $20 billion annualized stablecoin settlement run rate indicates that the underlying payment activity is expanding rapidly.
With payment volume rising nearly 200% year over year and more than 160 stablecoin-linked programs already active, the next challenge may not necessarily be convincing consumers to use stablecoins.
Instead, the critical question could be whether the financial infrastructure can provide sufficient liquidity to support the settlement cycle.
For issuers operating continuously throughout the week, access to flexible working capital can become just as important as customer acquisition.
The Bigger Picture
Visa’s stablecoin expansion illustrates how crypto infrastructure is increasingly intersecting with conventional financial systems.
Stablecoins are being used not only as digital representations of money but also as part of card settlement, lending and working-capital systems. Meanwhile, blockchain-based credit platforms are attempting to make the financing layer faster and more transparent.
If these models continue to scale, stablecoin payments could eventually create an entirely new market for real-time, receivables-backed credit.
For now, Visa’s $20 billion+ annualized settlement run rate is a significant milestone but the ability to finance that growth efficiently may determine how quickly the next phase of stablecoin adoption unfolds.
