On July 28th, Visa detailed its plans for stablecoins during an investor call. The company sees opportunities in areas like OpenUSD, digital versions of traditional bank deposits, faster blockchain-based payments, and using artificial intelligence to improve shopping experiences – all as part of its future payment solutions.
Summary
- Visa reported $11.6 billion quarterly revenue, rising 14% as payments and cross-border volumes expanded globally.
- OpenUSD will be Visa’s first stablecoin platform asset, while the company retains multi-coin support globally.
- Visa’s stablecoin settlement pilot supports nine blockchains and reached a $7 billion annualized run rate.
The U.S. payments company announced quarterly revenue of $11.63 billion, a 14% increase compared to the same time last year. The amount of money processed through payments and the number of transactions both grew by 10%, with international transactions increasing by 13%. After adjustments, the company earned $6.3 billion, which translates to $3.32 per share.
Visa stablecoin strategy covers the entire stack
Visa is expanding its involvement in the stablecoin market by investing in various areas like the underlying blockchains, companies that issue stablecoins, digital wallets, and the systems that support them. Instead of just focusing on traditional card payments, Visa aims to become a connector, helping banks and payment companies integrate with these new technologies.
Visa introduced a new Stablecoin Platform on July 16th that helps businesses manage digital currencies. The platform offers the tools to create, store, send, and redeem stablecoins within a secure Visa system. Currently, it’s being tested with a limited group of clients, and there’s no confirmed date for when it will be available to everyone.
As a researcher tracking digital payment innovations, I’ve been following Visa’s work with stablecoins closely. They’re already allowing some banks and processors to use approved stablecoins for settling transactions, and the results are impressive – by March, we saw an annualized volume of $7 billion being processed this way, representing 50% growth in just one quarter! Currently, their pilot program extends across nine different blockchain networks, including popular ones like Ethereum and Solana, as well as newer options like Base, Polygon, Avalanche, Stellar, Canton, Arc, and Tempo.
As crypto.news reported earlier, this update allows Visa to go further than just testing on Ethereum and Solana – it now offers its institutional clients a choice of different networks.
OpenUSD is a starting asset, not an exclusive choice
OpenUSD (OUSD) will be the first stablecoin available on Visa’s new platform. When the service launches, users will be able to link their bank accounts, set up digital wallets, and easily buy and sell OpenUSD.
During the recent earnings call, Visa clarified that it plans to continue supporting a variety of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies. The company emphasized it won’t pick a single winner in the stablecoin or blockchain space, but instead will focus on enabling its clients to connect to any regulated systems that become widely used.
Visa clarified that its work with OpenUSD shouldn’t be seen as a major long-term commitment. According to ARK Invest’s Lorenzo Valente, their involvement seems more like an initial exploration of possibilities rather than a firm strategic decision. It’s important to note this is Valente’s opinion; Visa hasn’t publicly framed its participation in that way.
During Visa’s recent earnings call, the company addressed concerns about whether OpenUSD would rival existing stablecoins like Circle and Tether. Visa clarified that they plan to remain neutral and support a variety of cryptocurrencies and blockchains. They explained their goal isn’t to choose which digital currencies will succeed, but rather to assist their clients in navigating the space.
— Lorenzo Valente (@LorenzoARK) July 28, 2026
Visa is actively supporting OpenUSD, even making it the initial asset on its new beta platform. Despite this, Visa hasn’t publicly announced any significant financial investment in OpenUSD, such as a specific funding amount, user adoption goals, or guaranteed transaction volume.
I saw on crypto.news that Visa, Mastercard, Coinbase, and over 140 other companies are getting involved with the Open Standard initiative, which uses OpenUSD. It’s supposed to launch around 2026, but honestly, it’s still unclear how much of it will actually be released and how widely it will be used. It’s something I’m keeping an eye on, as it could be a big deal for the future of digital assets.
Tokenized deposits give banks another route onchain
As an analyst, I’m watching Visa’s moves closely and their recent acquisition of Pismo is a key part of that. They’re planning to link their stablecoin platform with Pismo’s infrastructure. Essentially, this will allow banks to offer tokenized versions of deposits – think digital representations of money – while still keeping those funds safely recorded on their traditional balance sheets. It’s a way for them to explore blockchain technology without fundamentally changing how they manage customer money.
Unlike typical stablecoins, tokenized deposits are backed by a direct claim on a regulated bank’s holdings. Visa announced in June that they are developing technology to allow banks to convert regular deposits into digital money that can be used instantly and is programmable.
After getting Pismo up and running, the company is planning to add support for even more services that let you use your crypto as collateral or for other financial products. They haven’t said *which* companies these will be just yet, or when we can expect them to be available, but it sounds like they’re building out a lot more options for us as investors.
As crypto.news recently explained when covering Visa’s plans for AI and digital tokens, Visa sees tokenized deposits as a way for banks to offer services similar to stablecoins – offering fast transactions and the ability to be programmed for specific uses.
Visa sees AI controlling the commerce front end
Visa believes stablecoins could modernize how financial transactions are processed behind the scenes. They also predict that AI assistants will transform the customer experience by finding, choosing, and buying things on behalf of people.
The company now offers tools that allow software programs to make payments automatically, up to a certain amount. They’re also working with OpenAI to build even more advanced shopping systems powered by these programs, and have been testing ways to securely verify these programs’ payment information.
Visa sees potential for significant growth with a new type of shopping experience called agentic commerce, but it’s still early days. Widespread use depends on businesses, banks, and shoppers embracing the technology, and clear guidelines around security, verification, and privacy are still being established.
As a researcher tracking Visa, I observed a slight dip – around 1% – in their stock price during after-hours trading after their latest earnings report. Interestingly, this happened even though the results actually beat what analysts were predicting. And, to clarify, this stock movement didn’t seem to be related to anything Visa said about stablecoins.
Looking ahead, key developments include the official release of OpenUSD, broader testing of Visa’s stablecoin platform, and more information about how Pismo will integrate tokenized deposits. However, Visa hasn’t announced specific timelines for these updates.
2026-07-29 09:50