coindesk.com
Visa (V) is combining its VisaNet settlement data with onchain lending infrastructure to help stablecoin-linked card programs and fintechs obtain working capital, the company said Tuesday.
The move could give lenders a clear view of a payment card program's settlement receivables, the money it is due after payments clear. With customer authorization, that data can be combined with onchain transaction records to assess credit performance and automate parts of settlement financing.
Visa's announcement comes two weeks after CoinDesk obtained exclusive access to documents showing Visa is seeking a new stablecoin settlement partner with licensing capabilities across several regions as the fiat-pegged digital asset race intensifies. Stablecoins - digital tokens pegged to the value of a traditional financial assets, usually fiat currencies, have become a priority for the large card networks and payment companies, including Visa, Mastercard and Stripe.
Visa said more than 160 stablecoin-linked card programs now operate on its network, with payment volume up nearly 200% year over year. Visa also said emerging payment companies struggle to obtain working capital from traditional lenders, which often require scale, operating history or manual underwriting before extending credit.
Visa has been running an early version of this model with Credit Coop, a decentralized lending platform that uses smart contracts to automate funding, collateral management and repayment.
The model has supported more than $2.5 billion in cumulative financed settlement volume since 2023, with zero defaults across participating facilities, and has processed more than 3,000 borrow events and 9,000 repayment events programmatically onchain.