Visa has announced a significant expansion of its stablecoin settlement pilot, integrating five additional blockchain networks to bring the total number of supported chains to nine. The new additions include Polygon, Coinbase's Base, Circle's Arc, Canton Network, and Stripe-backed Tempo. These join the previously supported Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche, and Stellar.
The expansion comes as Visa's stablecoin settlement activity reaches a $7 billion annualized run rate, representing a 50% increase from the previous quarter. The program now supports over 130 stablecoin-linked card programs across more than 50 countries.
According to Rubail Birwadker, Visa's global head of growth products and strategic partnerships, the multi-chain strategy reflects partner needs: "Our partners are building in a multi-chain world, and they expect their options to reflect that reality." The company aims to provide a common settlement layer across all supported blockchain ecosystems.
Polygon Labs CEO Marc Boiron commented on the significance: "Visa adding Polygon signals that stablecoins are moving into real-world payments at scale. By combining Visa's global reach with Polygon's fast, low-cost infrastructure, we are making stablecoin settlement more practical, reliable, and accessible for partners around the world."
Jesse Pollak, Base's founder, emphasized the goal of "making stablecoin payments a daily reality for billions." Canton Network's Eric Saraniecki highlighted the importance of compliance for institutional participants. Visa has also taken deeper integration steps, becoming a design partner for Arc and a validator for both Tempo and Canton.
The newly added networks serve distinct purposes: Arc is a Layer-1 blockchain focused on stablecoins and programmable money; Base is an Ethereum scaling network for fast, low-cost transactions; Polygon supports high-throughput blockchain payments; Canton offers configurable privacy for regulated capital markets; and Tempo is designed for efficient stablecoin liquidity movement.
Polygon (POL) traded around $0.091 at the time of writing, remaining flat in the past 24 hours and down nearly 4% over the past week, as broader market conditions saw Bitcoin and Ethereum retesting $76,000 and $2,270 respectively. Canton Network (CC) traded near $0.15, experiencing a brief upside to $0.16 amid a 200% spike in daily volume before facing downward pressure.
