Shares of Circle Internet (NYSE:CRCL) climbed about 3% on Tuesday after Visa (NYSE:V) announced the introduction of USDC-based settlement in the United States, a move that underscores growing adoption of stablecoins within traditional payment systems.
Visa said that U.S. issuing and acquiring banks are now able to settle transactions with the company using Circle’s USDC, a fully backed, U.S. dollar–pegged stablecoin. Cross River Bank and Lead Bank are among the first participants, already settling with Visa in USDC via the Solana blockchain, with wider access expected to roll out through 2026.
Under Visa’s stablecoin settlement model, partners can benefit from seven-day settlement cycles, enhanced liquidity management tools, and seamless interaction between conventional payment infrastructure and blockchain networks. Visa also disclosed that its monthly stablecoin settlement activity has reached an annualized pace of $3.5 billion as of November 30.
“Visa is expanding stablecoin settlement because our banking partners are not only asking about it – they’re preparing to use it,” said Rubail Birwadker, Global Head of Growth Products and Strategic Partnerships at Visa.
In a related development, Visa said it will act as a design partner for Arc, a new Layer 1 blockchain created by Circle and currently operating on a public testnet. Visa intends to use Arc for USDC settlement within its ecosystem and plans to run a validator node once the network is fully launched.
Circle’s Chief Product and Technology Officer Nikhil Chandhok called the initiative “a milestone for internet native money moving at the speed of software” that supports financial institutions in upgrading and modernizing treasury operations.
The announcement builds on Visa’s earlier stablecoin settlement trials in multiple regions and follows the company’s first USDC settlement experiments dating back to 2021.