Visa officially inaugurated its new advisory practice focused on stable assets to guide financial institutions amidst the sector’s growing interest. Carl Rutstein, global head of Visa Consulting, confirmed they seek to meet organic client demand and facilitate stablecoin adoption without forcing it indiscriminately.
The service is already actively collaborating with recognized entities like Navy Federal Credit Union and Pathward on designing technical and operational strategies. The global market for these assets has climbed to 309.85 billion dollars, with Tether dominating 60% of the sector, followed by Circle with a robust capitalization of 78.31 billion.
This initiative spans from technical architecture development to operational readiness for cross-border payments and efficient business-to-business (B2B) settlements. Visa has successfully tested USDC settlement on blockchain networks and plans to expand these pilots into 2026, targeting banks that currently rely on costly correspondent banking networks.
Strategic Integration of Digital Assets in Traditional Banking
The move follows recent regulatory clarity in the United States, marked by President Trump’s signing of the GENIUS Act in July. Traditional financial institutions are now accelerating their engagement with the digital dollar, seeking to urgently modernize their payment infrastructures and reduce friction in complex international transfers.
Major companies like PayPal and Mastercard have also expanded their capabilities, intensifying competition in the emerging tokenized payments sector. On the other hand, global banks like JPMorgan and Standard Chartered are actively exploring settlement tools on-chain, which could soon redefine standards of speed and efficiency in global corporate finance.
Are We Facing the End of Barriers in Global Cross-Border Payments?
The expansion of these services is not intended to replace existing payment rails, but to effectively complement them to improve the end-user experience. Cuy Sheffield, head of crypto at Visa, has reiterated that the future will combine traditional systems with on-chain settlement, creating a hybrid ecosystem that benefits both retail and corporate users.
More financial institutions are expected to join this inevitable trend as global regulation continues to standardize over the coming years. Collaboration between payment giants and native crypto platforms promises to facilitate access to stable currencies in emerging markets, thus consolidating their real utility far beyond speculative trading.
