As its stablecoin service expands, global payments processor Visa has added support for USD Coin payments settled on the Solana blockchain.

Visa announced that it is running live and completed pilots with issuers and acquirers, transferring millions of USDC between partners on the Ethereum and Solana blockchains to settle fiat-based payments.

The release by Visa describes the evolution of Visa's USDC adoption, from pilots with Crypto.com through integrations with merchant payment processors Worldpay and Nuvei.

The incorporation of USDC issued on Ethereum and Solana into the Visa ecosystem means that the former can use Visa's treasury and settlement mechanisms to bridge traditional finance and Web3.

Cuy Sheffield, Visa's head of crypto, stated that using stablecoins USDC and blockchains like Ethereum and Solana speeds up cross-border settlement.

Visa began testing stablecoin settlement on the issuing side using USDC in 2021 in conjunction with Crypto.com. The resulting pilot used Ethereum-based USDC to accept payments for cross-border volume on its Australian card program via Crypto.com.

Settlements for cross-border Crypto.com Visa card purchases used to required multi-day currency conversion operations and incurred wire transfer costs.

As a result, the crypto exchange now uses USDC for its Australian Visa card settlement obligations.

The USDC integration also enables Visa to send funds to USDC acquirers such as Worldpay and Nuvei, which is intended to reduce settlement times for merchants who use their services.

The payment processors can then route USDC payments to the merchants they serve, connecting Visa's traditional fiat economy to stablecoins and the larger cryptocurrency market.

Sources:

https://cointelegraph.com/news/visa-taps-into-solana-to-widen-usdc-payment-capability

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230905549860/en/Visa-Expands-Stablecoin-Settlement-Capabilities-to-Merchant-Acquirers