Benzinga - In a significant move towards modernizing cross-border financial transactions, payments giant Visa Inc (NYSE: V) announced on Tuesday its plans to extend its stablecoin settlement capabilities to the Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) blockchain.
This development came in collaboration with major merchant acquirers, Worldpay and Nuvei.
Visa's recent endeavors have seen millions of Circle (CRYPTO: USDC) being transacted between its partners over both the Solana and Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) blockchain networks, streamlining fiat-denominated payments processed via VisaNet, the company stated.
Cuy Sheffield, head of crypto at Visa, emphasized the company's commitment to pioneering in the digital currency realm.
“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,” said Sheffield.
This announcement came on the heels of Benzinga's Future of Digital Assets conference, which has been spotlighting the transformative potential of blockchain and digital currencies in reshaping the global financial landscape.
Recalling Visa's previous endeavors in 2021, the company initiated a pilot with Crypto.com leveraging USDC within its treasury operations.
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This collaboration enables Crypto.com to utilize USDC for settling transactions on its Visa card in Australia, marking a significant reduction in the time and complexity traditionally associated with international wire transfers.
Jeremy Allaire, co-founder and CEO of Circle, lauded Visa's innovative approach, saying, “Expanding the pilot exemplifies how pairing USDC with Visa’s innovation opens up the future of payments, commerce and financial applications.”
As Visa continues to explore on-chain fund reception from multiple issuer partners, its new settlement options will expedite settlement times for companies such as Worldpay and Nuvei.
This initiative is particularly beneficial for merchants involved in the blockchain and crypto sectors, including game developers and NFT marketplaces.
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