Per an official announcement, payment giant VISA expanded its stablecoin settlement services to the Solana blockchain. The program is currently in a pilot and testing phase but looks to improve upon the capabilities of the legacy payment rails.
VISA Doubles Down On Blockchain, Solana Part Of New Program
According to the announcement, the pilot program allows “enterprise-grade” throughput and low transaction costs by adding blockchain capabilities on Solana. VISA acquired merchants Worldpay and Nuvei to achieve this objective.
The announcement claims the payment giant has already settled millions of dollars on blockchain networks with stablecoin USDC. VISA’s Head of Crypto, Cuy Sheffield, stated the following regarding this new development and this technology’s potential to “improve” legacy payment systems:
By leveraging stablecoins like USDC and global blockchain networks like Solana and Ethereum, we’re helping to improve the speed of cross-border settlement and providing a modern option for our clients to easily send or receive funds from Visa’s treasury. Visa is committed to being on the forefront of digital currency and blockchain innovation and leveraging these new technologies to help improve the way we move money.
The program to settle payments with stablecoin USDC began in 2021 when the payment company took an interest in blockchain. The company partnered with crypto exchange Crypto.com to leverage the Ethereum blockchain for cross-border transactions in Australia.
Payment went from settling in days to seconds with the new initiative. The announcement claims that the acquisition of Worldpay and Nuvei will help “speed up settlement times for their merchants,” reduce costs, increase throughput, and decentralization to the program.
Is Solana The Best Choice For VISA’s Program?
This partnership made VISA one of the first legacy companies to launch direct live settlement payments on the Solana blockchain. In the future, the payment company claims to be prepared to forge new alliances and work with new partners to expand its program.
Jim Johnson, President of Worldpay Merchant Solutions, added:
Visa’s USDC settlement capability enables Worldpay to bring more of our treasury operations in-house and allows us to offer merchants more choices for receiving funds. Diversifying funding options and increasing flexibility is critical to serving the changing needs of global merchants in today’s rapidly evolving commerce landscape.
Data from Token Terminal shows that Solana has been highly impacted by the “Crypto Winter.” The blockchain has experienced a 12% drop in its circulating market cap and a 4% loss in its 30-day revenue, while its native token, SOL, has declined by 16% in the past 30 days.
However, the blockchain maintains a 20% gain on its annualized revenue and annualized fees, and while its active users have seen a decline (from 200,000 to around 100,000), the overall trends point to the upside on these metrics.
Charts from Token Terminal and Tradingview