Visa Stablecoin Pilot Expands to Nine Chains

Visa announced on April 29 that it has added five new blockchains to its global stablecoin settlement pilot, bringing the total number of supported networks to nine and signaling a deeper commitment to crypto-native payment infrastructure.

The five newly added chains are Arc, Base, Canton, Polygon and Tempo. They join the four networks already part of the pilot: Avalanche, Ethereum, Solana and Stellar.

The expansion is not a new product launch but a scaling of an existing pilot that Visa has been running across its issuer and acquirer partners. Rubail Birwadker, who leads the effort at Visa, framed the move as demand-driven.

"Our partners are building in a multi-chain world, and they expect their options to reflect that reality."

— Rubail Birwadker, Visa, via official announcement

Why adding Base, Polygon, Canton, Tempo and Arc matters

Base and Polygon are the most recognizable names among the five additions. Base, Coinbase's Layer 2 network built on Ethereum, has become a high-volume venue for USDC transfers. Polygon, which has positioned itself as a payments-oriented chain, said in a separate blog post that it handled 34% of USD stablecoin transfers and 54% of USDC transfers earlier this month.

Canton, Tempo and Arc are less familiar to most crypto readers but serve specific institutional niches. Canton targets regulated capital-markets use cases, while Arc and Tempo broaden Visa's reach into newer settlement environments. Visa holds validator or design-partner roles on some of these chains, suggesting the relationship extends beyond simple integration.

From four chains to nine

The pilot's prior scope, limited to Avalanche, Ethereum, Solana and Stellar, covered the most established smart-contract platforms. The jump to nine chains reflects a shift from proving the concept works to making it available wherever Visa's partners operate.

That operational scale is backed by volume. Visa said the pilot has reached a $7 billion annualized stablecoin settlement run rate, up 50% since last quarter.

Visa also said it now has more than 130 stablecoin-linked card programs operating in more than 50 countries. That footprint connects the settlement pilot to consumer-facing products already in the market.

USDC, the stablecoin most closely associated with Visa's pilot, held a market cap of roughly $77.3 billion at press time with $15.5 billion in 24-hour trading volume. The broader stablecoin sector sits at approximately $292 billion in total market capitalization.

What this signals for Visa's broader crypto strategy

Visa CEO Ryan McInerney has described the company's positioning in stablecoin infrastructure as deliberate. He said Visa has "established Visa's role as a key interoperability layer between this powerful infrastructure and real-world solutions for users."

The expansion comes at a time when institutional adoption of stablecoin rails is accelerating, even as the broader crypto market sentiment remains cautious; the Fear & Greed Index sat at 29 (Fear) at the time of the announcement.

Visa's move also coincides with increased regulatory scrutiny of crypto-adjacent financial products. While this expansion required no new regulatory approval, Polygon noted that some fiat-ramp components tied to the program remain subject to regulatory clearance. The pilot operates as settlement infrastructure for existing Visa partners, not as a direct consumer product, which is a distinction worth watching as new crypto assets reach major exchanges and traditional finance deepens its blockchain integration.

The nine-chain pilot is still a pilot. Visa has not announced a timeline for full production rollout, and the company's language remains careful about distinguishing settlement infrastructure from end-user availability. But the trajectory, from four chains to nine in a single quarter with a 50% jump in settlement volume, suggests the pilot phase is moving toward something more permanent.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Cryptocurrency and digital asset markets carry significant risk. Always do your own research before making decisions.