Visa Opens a New Route For Onchain Lending Into Payments

Visa has announced a new approach to onchain credit designed to help stablecoin-linked card programs and fintechs access working capital using onchain lending infrastructure and Visa data. The move bridges traditional payments infrastructure with decentralized finance in a way that few legacy networks have attempted at scale.

How the Model Works

Visa is combining VisaNet settlement data with onchain lending infrastructure to help stablecoin-linked card programs and fintechs secure working capital. The system allows authorized settlement and blockchain data to inform credit assessments and automate financing, addressing barriers emerging payment companies face with traditional lenders.

The rapid expansion of stablecoin card programs has created a working-capital challenge for some issuers. Card providers generally need capital available to meet daily settlement payments, even though customer payments may not arrive until later. According to Visa, this timing mismatch can become particularly difficult for younger programs that require relatively small amounts of financing but need to access those funds frequently.

An early example of this model is Visa's work with Credit Coop, which provides working capital and settlement financing for stablecoin-linked card programs using smart contracts to automate funding, collateral management and repayment. The model has supported more than $2.5 billion in cumulative financed settlement volume since 2023, with zero defaults across participating facilities, and has processed more than 3,000 borrow events and 9,000 repayment events programmatically onchain.

Credit Coop Founder and CEO Chris Walker said: "Payment companies have always had good collateral in their settlement receivables, but no way to show lenders how it performs in real time. By combining Visa settlement data with onchain infrastructure, we can evaluate live performance, enforce repayment from the settlement flow and extend capital onchain from participating lenders as a program grows."

A Fast-Growing Stablecoin Network

The company said more than 160 stablecoin-linked card programs operate on its network, with payment volume on those programs growing nearly 200% year over year. Visa's stablecoin settlement volume has surpassed a $20 billion annualized run rate, up more than 15 times year over year.

The introduction of this lending program follows the July launch of the Visa Stablecoin Platform, which is now in beta with select clients and gives financial institutions, fintechs and crypto companies a single managed environment for minting, redeeming, holding and transferring stablecoins. Onchain lending has emerged as one of the fastest-growing segments of digital finance. According to the Visa Onchain Analytics Dashboard, since 2020, more than $694 billion in stablecoin-denominated loans have been sent through onchain lending protocols, creating a global credit market that operates 24/7.

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