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Visa’s newest crypto side quest
Visa just unveiled a new Onchain credit model, and the pitch is pretty simple: use VisaNet settlement data plus onchain lending infrastructure to help stablecoin-linked card programs and fintech firms get working capital.
That matters because stablecoins are no longer just the weird corner of crypto Twitter. Visa says more than $694 billion in stablecoin-denominated loans have flowed through onchain lending protocols since 2020, which is a very large number for an industry that still sometimes feels like it runs on vibes and spreadsheets.
Why investors should care
For Visa, this is part of a broader stablecoin push. The company already launched the Visa Stablecoin Platform, which is meant to support stablecoin settlement and expand card programs tied to digital assets.
If this works, Visa gets to play toll-booth operator for a faster-moving slice of payments while using its own data to make the lending stack look less like a casino and more like a business. That’s the dream, anyway.
The stock angle
The shares were down 1.87% to $368.07 when this was published, so the market isn’t exactly cheering the announcement in real time. But strategically, this is Visa doing what Visa does best: finding a way to sit in the middle of a transaction and charge rent.
Big picture: crypto may still be chaotic, but Visa keeps trying to make it look a little more like mainstream finance.