Visa's Stablecoin Cards Top 160 Programs, Volume Soars

Highlights

Visa says more than 160 stablecoin-linked card programs launched globally in its latest fiscal quarter, one of its fastest-growing product categories.
Payment volume on those programs grew nearly 200% year-over-year, with annualized settlement topping $20 billion — more than 15 times higher than a year earlier.
A revolving-credit tool built with Credit Coop now funds daily settlement for early-stage stablecoin card programs, cutting some participants' borrowing costs by more than 30%.
The growth adds to Visa's broader stablecoin push, which includes a separate settlement pilot that has reached a $7 billion annualized run rate.

160 New Programs in a Single Quarter

Visa says stablecoin-linked cards have become one of the fastest-growing categories on its network, with more than 160 individual card programs launched globally in its most recent fiscal quarter alone. In a blog post detailing the growth, the payments giant said volume moving through those programs rose nearly 200% year-over-year, while the annualized settlement rate tied to stablecoin cards surpassed $20 billion — more than 15 times higher than the equivalent figure a year earlier. The numbers mark a sharp acceleration for a product category that barely existed at meaningful scale two years ago, and position stablecoin-linked cards as a genuine growth line for Visa rather than a pilot-stage experiment.

The Credit Coop Facility Behind the Growth

According to Visa's own account of the initiative, a key enabler behind the growth has been a stablecoin-based revolving credit facility built in partnership with Credit Coop, which provides daily settlement funding for early-stage stablecoin card programs. That's a meaningful operational detail: new card programs typically need working capital to bridge the gap between when a cardholder spends and when the program's stablecoin reserves settle, and smaller fintech issuers often struggle to access that kind of short-term credit on favorable terms. Visa says the Credit Coop-backed facility has cut borrowing costs for some participating programs by more than 30%, effectively lowering the capital barrier for new stablecoin card issuers to launch and scale.

The card growth sits alongside a separate but related initiative: Visa's direct stablecoin settlement pilot, which has reportedly reached a $7 billion annualized run rate, up roughly 50% from the prior quarter, spanning nine blockchains after Visa added five new networks to its settlement infrastructure. Taken together, the card and settlement figures suggest Visa is building stablecoin rails on two parallel tracks — consumer-facing card programs and backend settlement infrastructure — rather than treating either as the sole product, a trend that echoes how crypto card spending overall has been scaling this year.

Why Legacy Rails Matter for Stablecoin Adoption

The scale of Visa's stablecoin card growth matters because it signals that stablecoins are moving from a crypto-native trading and remittance tool into mainstream consumer payment infrastructure, routed through rails that regulators, merchants and banks already trust. A stablecoin-linked card functions, from a merchant's perspective, exactly like any other Visa card — the stablecoin conversion happens behind the scenes — which sidesteps much of the friction that has historically limited stablecoin adoption for everyday retail spending. That distribution advantage is one reason legacy payment networks have moved aggressively into stablecoin infrastructure over the past two years rather than treating the technology purely as a threat to their existing card-based business.

For stablecoin issuers themselves, Visa's card network becoming a viable go-to-market channel adds a significant new demand driver beyond DeFi trading and cross-border remittances — arguably the two use cases that have driven the bulk of stablecoin supply growth to date, including issuers like Ripple's RLUSD. If card-based spending continues compounding at the pace Visa describes, it could meaningfully diversify where stablecoin demand comes from, making the sector's growth somewhat less dependent on crypto-market cycles and more tied to everyday consumer spending patterns.

What Comes Next

The next test for Visa's stablecoin card push is whether the 160-plus programs launched this quarter can sustain their volume growth once initial promotional incentives and novelty wear off, since early-stage card programs often see usage taper after launch. Visa's Credit Coop-backed credit facility will also face its own scaling test as more programs draw on it simultaneously — the 30% borrowing-cost reduction cited so far reflects a relatively small base of early participants. Watch Visa's next quarterly disclosures for whether stablecoin card payment volume growth holds anywhere close to the nearly 200% year-over-year pace set this quarter, which would confirm the category is compounding rather than front-loaded by a wave of new program launches.

FAQ

How many stablecoin-linked card programs has Visa launched?
Visa says more than 160 individual stablecoin-linked card programs launched globally in its most recent fiscal quarter.

How fast is payment volume growing on Visa's stablecoin cards?
Visa says payment volume on stablecoin-linked cards grew nearly 200% year-over-year, with annualized settlement surpassing $20 billion.

What role does Credit Coop play in Visa's stablecoin cards?
Visa's stablecoin-based revolving credit facility with Credit Coop provides daily settlement funding for early-stage card programs, cutting some participants' borrowing costs by more than 30%.

How does this relate to Visa's stablecoin settlement pilot?
Visa's separate stablecoin settlement pilot has reportedly reached a $7 billion annualized run rate across nine blockchains, running alongside the card-program growth as a parallel initiative.