Visa launches USDC stablecoin settlement in US with Cross River Bank and Lead Bank

Visa announced on 16 December 2025 that it has launched USDC stablecoin settlement in the United States, with Cross River Bank and Lead Bank named as the initial banking participants. Settlement takes place in USDC over the Solana blockchain. Visa's press releases frame the launch as a breakthrough for stablecoin integration within U.S. card-network settlement, and the company cited more than $3.5 billion in annualised stablecoin settlement volume at the time of the announcement.

What the programme does

Under the arrangement, card issuers can settle with Visa in USDC rather than through conventional fiat channels. According to Visa's press releases, this gives participating issuers access to seven-day availability and faster funds movement over blockchain infrastructure — without requiring any change to the consumer-facing card experience. Cardholders transact as normal; the settlement layer is what shifts.

Visa's press materials describe the settlement architecture as allowing issuers to move funds faster across blockchain rails while keeping the existing consumer card experience entirely intact.

Broader availability across the United States is planned through 2026, according to both the corporate and investor-relations versions of Visa's press release.

Prior programme context

Visa's press releases describe the U.S. announcement as a major milestone in the company's stablecoin settlement pilot programme, implying prior activity, though the specific earlier markets are not named in the verified source material.

The Circle relationship

Visa's press releases also disclose two additional dimensions of its relationship with Circle, the issuer of USDC. Visa is named as a design partner for Arc, a new Layer 1 blockchain developed by Circle that is currently in public testnet. Visa also plans to operate a validator node on Arc once the network goes live. These disclosures deepen the publicly visible commercial relationship between Visa and Circle beyond the USDC settlement programme itself.

USDC is described in Visa's press releases as a fully reserved, dollar-denominated stablecoin issued by Circle.

Participant banks

Cross River Bank and Lead Bank are the named initial U.S. participants. Neither the corporate nor the investor-relations press release provides additional detail on how the two institutions were selected or on the contractual terms governing their participation. No other banking participants are confirmed in the verified source material at this stage.

Why it matters

Taken together, the verified facts point to several developments worth tracking:

• Settlement infrastructure: Moving card-network settlement onto a public blockchain represents an operational change to how funds flow between Visa and its issuing banks, with potential implications for treasury management and liquidity windows at participating institutions.
• Seven-day availability: Conventional card-network settlement operates on business-day cycles. Visa's stated seven-day availability claim, if borne out in practice, would extend the operational window for fund movement — an editorial observation grounded in the verified programme description.
• Scale signal: The $3.5 billion annualised figure cited by Visa offers a volume benchmark, though the underlying methodology and measurement period are not disclosed in the available source material and should be treated as a company-reported figure pending independent verification.
• Validator participation: Visa's stated intention to run a validator node on Circle's Arc blockchain, once live, would extend the company's involvement from settlement-layer user to active network participant — an editorial distinction worth monitoring as Arc moves from testnet toward a mainnet launch.

Rubail Birwadker, identified in Visa's press releases as Global Head of Growth Products and Strategic Partnerships at Visa, is quoted in the official materials in connection with the announcement. Readers seeking the verbatim statement are directed to the primary sources at corporate.visa.com and investor.visa.com, where the full press releases are published.

The programme's expansion timeline and the addition of further U.S. banking participants remain the principal developments to watch through 2026.