VISA

Open Standard has unveiled Open USD, a new dollar-backed stablecoin network designed for global money movement, business payments and onchain settlement. The project brings together more than 140 businesses across payments, banking, fintech, crypto, commerce and technology. The partner list includes Visa, Stripe, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, BlackRock, BNY, Standard Chartered, Google, Shopify, Coinbase, Solana, OKX, Ripple, Crypto.com, Fireblocks, Gemini, MetaMask, Aave, MoonPay, Anchorage Digital, Stellar, Polygon and Aptos Labs. Open USD is not live for public use yet. Open…

X Money is expanding to a subset of U.S. Premium+ users, bringing Elon Musk’s payments push closer to a broader consumer rollout after months of beta testing and product previews. Dhruv Batura, who leads X Money, said the limited release is meant to collect feedback and fix issues before wider availability. The rollout remains gated, with access tied to selected U.S. Premium+ accounts rather than a full public launch across all X users. The new feature package gives early users…

X has started rolling out X Money to a small group of U.S. Premium+ users, moving Elon Musk’s payments push from closed testing into a broader feedback phase. Dhruv Batura, who leads X Money, said the company wants to “collect feedback and iron out issues” before a wider launch. The limited release follows Musk’s March early public access timeline and gives paid X users their first look at payments inside the app. The rollout remains gated, with early access focused…

A reported consortium plan involving Stripe, Visa, Mastercard and Coinbase would create a new stablecoin aimed at challenging Tether and Circle in digital-dollar payments. The structure would place three of the world’s most important payment companies beside one of the largest crypto exchanges, giving the proposed stablecoin a rare mix of merchant reach, card-network relationships, crypto distribution and stablecoin infrastructure. Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC still dominate stablecoin supply and liquidity. USDT leads offshore trading and exchange settlement, while USDC…

Crypto card spending is breaking out of its early-adopter box, and the numbers are getting too large to ignore. Monthly crypto card volume has surged about 500% since September 2024 to roughly $600 million, turning stablecoin-linked cards into one of the fastest-growing payment stories on public blockchains. The shift shows stablecoins moving from wallet balances and exchange liquidity into everyday consumer spending. Users are not only holding digital dollars anymore. They are increasingly routing them through card networks, mobile wallets,…

Visa has added Polygon as a settlement chain in its stablecoin program, giving fintech issuers a new way to settle card payment flows beyond standard banking hours. While card payments feel instant to users, settlement for issuers still depends on bank calendars, cut-off times, weekends, and holidays. This creates a working-capital cost for fintechs, especially program managers and sponsor-bank-backed issuers with large card volumes. Polygon’s addition gives those firms access to stablecoin settlement on a chain already used for high-volume…

Visa expanded its stablecoin settlement pilot to nine blockchains on April 29, signaling that institutional adoption of blockchain-based payment rails is accelerating faster than traditional finance expected. The move adds Arc, Base, Canton, Polygon, and Tempo to existing support for Avalanche, Ethereum, Solana, and Stellar. The $7 billion annualized settlement run rate, up 50% from the previous quarter, suggests the market is moving past the experimental phase into operational deployment. Note: Visa is also nominated for Best Stablecoin Infrastructure at…

The European Central Bank (ECB) signed agreements with three European standard-setting bodies to build the digital euro on open, non-proprietary infrastructure, directly challenging the dominance of Visa and Mastercard across the eurozone. The deals with the European Card Payment Cooperation (ECPC), nexo standards, and the Berlin Group give the digital euro a free, shared technical foundation that any European payment provider can adopt without paying global card scheme fees. Three standards, three layers of payments CPACE, developed by ECPC, will…

Stablecoins are getting bigger, a $320 billion market. But real payments are still in the early innings. Last year, a massive $33 trillion was processed through stablecoins, but less than 1% of it was actually used for payments. VISA is building the bridge to fill this gap.  Visa is nominated for Best Stablecoin Infrastructure in the Tokenization & On-Chain Finance category at the BeInCrypto Institutional 100 Awards 2026.  Annualized stablecoin settlement run rate$4.6 billionStablecoin-linked card programs130+Countries with issuance enabled50+Bridge card…