Anchorage Digital is teaming up with Visa to allow select stablecoins issued by its federally chartered bank to settle transactions directly on VisaNet, beginning with Western Union’s USDPT. Announced Thursday, the arrangement lets Visa and eligible partners use USDPT, a dollar-pegged token issued and custodied by Anchorage Digital Bank, to settle obligations on the Visa network.
Anchorage said this is the first Anchorage-issued stablecoin to gain native settlement status on VisaNet, and the companies have created a framework to evaluate additional tokens later. Anchorage bills itself as America’s first federally chartered crypto bank, regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. CEO Nathan McCauley said: ‘Speed alone won’t bring institutions onchain. They need a regulated institution behind the money.’
The integration builds on Visa’s expanding stablecoin settlement push. In September, Visa reported an annualized stablecoin settlement run rate of $20 billion, more than 15 times the prior-year figure, and has added networks including Monad, Canton, Base and Tempo. Dan Roesbery, Visa vice president for crypto partnerships, called USDPT support ‘another trusted, institution-grade option’ for settlement.
USDPT debuted in May on Solana, with Anchorage Digital Bank handling issuance and Fireblocks providing wallet and settlement infrastructure. Western Union initially launched the token in the Philippines and Bolivia and plans to use it for 24/7 settlements across its network spanning more than 200 countries. Anchorage has issued other institution-grade stablecoins, including Tether’s USAT, OSL Group’s USDGO, Ethena Labs’ USDtb, Falcon Finance’s fUSD and Zelle’s ZLUSD.
The partnership advances Anchorage’s ambition to become a settlement bank for stablecoins, extending its role beyond issuance into custody and settlement infrastructure. Its Atlas network already handles off-exchange settlement, collateral management and cross-border transfers, and Anchorage recently served as custody backbone for the U.S.-Mexico stablecoin corridor. Broader stablecoin supply has contracted to about $280 billion from $300 billion in March, with Tether’s USDT at $177 billion and Circle’s USDC at about $70 billion, according to The Block data.
