Visa will be onboarding two payment companies to test the movement of USDC to the Solana blockchain.
Global payments giant Visa announced the expansion of its stablecoin settlement capabilities to include high-speed layer 1 blockchain, Solana. According to a press release on September 5, Visa will start testing the settlement with two large payment firms, WorldPay and Nuvei.
Initially, when users make digital payments, Visa receives the funds in its treasury and sends them to the merchant’s bank. Following its partnership with Circle in 2021, the payments company began transferring the stablecoin from Visa’s treasury to merchants’ custody.
Through its newly secured partnership with WorldPay and Nuvei, Visa will be able to complete fiat-denominated transactions authorized over VisaNet, the payment network powering Visa’s electronic payment processing.
It is worth noting that the latest move by Visa is a wake from a slumber that ensued months back.
Visa to Pilot Stablecoin Settlement on Solana
Based on clients’ demand, Visa opted to utilize the Solana network, a shift from the natively used Ethereum blockchain. According to the details of the deal, Solana is preferred due to its speed, high throughput, low costs, and decentralization. Ethereum has a long history of slow payment settlements.
1/?Breaking: Visa Expands Stablecoin Settlement Pilot to Solana@Visa is scaling their USDC settlement pilot to include the Solana blockchain, enabling enterprise-grade throughput at virtually no cost for Visa issuers and merchant acquirers on Solana. https://t.co/rF5ouZaISM
— Solana (@solana) September 5, 2023
Cuy Sheffield, Head of Crypto at Visa, stated that employing a blockchain network like Solana will help accelerate cross-border settlements and provide a modern option for clients to send or receive funds from Visa’s treasury quickly.
“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,” he added.
Sheffield adds that the speed common to Solana will not initially be introduced during the pilot program. Rather, fast transaction settlements may likely be introduced in the future.
Notably, following Visa’s announcement, Solana’s native cryptocurrency SOL saw a decent 5% increase. The asset is currently traded at $20.5, a price rebound from the lows earlier today.