Visa adds Polygon to stablecoin settlement pilot, pushing $7B run rate and expanding multi-chain payments infrastructure.
Author: Akshat Thakur
29th April 2026 – Visa has added Polygon to its global stablecoin settlement pilot program, alongside four other blockchains. The move brings the total number of supported chains to nine.
High Signal Summary For A Quick Glance
Catie Romero-Finger
@catieromero
@0xPolygon @Visa Polygon having access to their global stablecoin program is huge. Real money can now be settled instantly and for next to nothing. Onchain is becoming the default faster than expected.
The world's largest payment network settles stablecoins on Polygon. Now supported on its global stablecoin settlement program, Visa's partners can choose Polygon rails to move money instantly. https://t.co/WlZKAYyae0
01:09 PM·Apr 29, 2026
Tentacle 9000
@tenta_kle
@0xPolygon @Visa 99.9% uptime sold it. Visa can't afford a single second down and Polygon handed them a guarantee like concrete under their feet.
The world's largest payment network settles stablecoins on Polygon. Now supported on its global stablecoin settlement program, Visa's partners can choose Polygon rails to move money instantly. https://t.co/WlZKAYyae0
12:53 PM·Apr 29, 2026
0xMoe
@halaltrader_
@0xPolygon @Visa Traditional cross border settlement charges basis points per transaction, so we're talking dollars on every transfer. Polygon brings that down to fractions of a penny. At Visa scale volumes, the savings compound into something massive.
The world's largest payment network settles stablecoins on Polygon. Now supported on its global stablecoin settlement program, Visa's partners can choose Polygon rails to move money instantly. https://t.co/WlZKAYyae0
12:49 PM·Apr 29, 2026
Steady attention without excessive speculation.
The payment giant announced on Tuesday that it now supports Arc, Base, Canton, and Tempo in addition to Polygon. Previously, the pilot ran on Avalanche, Ethereum, Solana, and Stellar. Visa’s issuers and acquirers can now route stablecoin settlements over Polygon rails.
The pilot has reached a $7 billion annualized run rate. That marks a 50% increase quarter-over-quarter, according to the official press release.
Polygon’s PoS chain delivers sub-four-second finality, more than 2,600 transactions per second, and fees that typically stay below one cent. These specs make it a strong fit for high-volume payment settlement.
The chain also leads in stablecoin activity. According to Polygon’s blog post, the network handles 54% of global USDC transfers and 34% of all USD-stablecoin transfers. Its stablecoin supply recently hit an all-time high of $3.62 billion.
Polygon Labs CEO Marc Boiron framed the integration as a turning point. “Visa adding Polygon signals that stablecoins are moving into real world payments at scale,” he said. “By combining Visa’s global reach with Polygon’s fast, low-cost infrastructure, we are making stablecoin settlement more practical, reliable, and accessible for partners around the world.”
Visa’s stablecoin settlement program lets issuers and acquirers settle network obligations directly in stablecoins. That replaces traditional fiat rails for those transactions.
In practice, a partner sends stablecoins on a supported chain to Visa’s settlement endpoint. Visa then handles reconciliation across all nine supported networks through what it calls a “common settlement layer.”
Rubail Birwadker, Visa’s Global Head of Growth Products, explained the reasoning. “Our partners are building in a multi-chain world, and they expect their options to reflect that reality,” he said. “Expanding our stablecoin settlement pilot program to more blockchains means our partners can choose the networks that best fit their needs.”
Visa began testing stablecoin settlement on Ethereum in 2023. It then expanded to Solana in late 2025 for U.S. institutions, launching USDC settlement with Cross River Bank and Lead Bank.
By early 2026, the program scaled across four chains with a $4.6 billion annualized volume. The jump to $7 billion and nine chains shows accelerating institutional demand for on-chain settlement.
Polygon is not new to enterprise payments. The chain already has production integrations with Stripe, Revolut, and Mastercard. It has processed more than $2.4 trillion in on-chain value over its lifetime. The Visa addition reinforces Polygon’s position as the go-to chain for institutional payment flows.
Key milestones in Visa’s Stablecoin Settlement Journey
Visa initiates on-chain settlement using USDC on Ethereum, marking its first step toward programmable payment infrastructure.
Settlement capabilities extend to Solana, improving speed and cost efficiency for cross-border and merchant payments.
Visa expands partner integrations and increases settlement volume, reinforcing stablecoins as a bridge between traditional finance and blockchain systems.
Visa adds Polygon support, enabling instant, low-cost settlements and scaling access across its growing stablecoin network.
Additional chains and institutional partners are anticipated as Visa continues building real-time settlement infrastructure.
Polygon recorded 178.1 million USD-stablecoin transactions in March 2026, with 3.19 million weekly active stablecoin users. Both figures reflect the chain’s dominance in real stablecoin usage.
No Visa-specific smart contracts or settlement transactions have appeared on-chain yet. The integration is an enterprise pilot, so settlement flows are not routed through public DeFi pools.
As of Tuesday afternoon, no significant POL token price movement followed the announcement. The market appears to have priced in Polygon’s enterprise trajectory, though longer-term effects remain unclear.
Several details are still missing. Visa has not disclosed which specific stablecoins will run on Polygon rails first, though USDC is the most likely candidate given Polygon’s 54% share of global USDC transfers.
No initial partner names have been revealed. The $7 billion run rate is an aggregate figure across all nine chains, so Polygon’s individual contribution is unknown.
Fee structures, SLAs, and recovery mechanisms between Visa and Polygon also remain undisclosed. These details will likely emerge as the first live settlements go through.
Community sentiment on X is overwhelmingly positive. Polygon’s announcement tweet drew more than 195 likes, with crypto commentators calling the integration a “pivotal step” for mainstream adoption.
The next milestone to watch is the first confirmed live settlement on Polygon rails. That will shift the narrative from announcement to execution.
For now, the integration positions Polygon alongside Ethereum and Solana as core infrastructure for the world’s largest payment network. With $7 billion already flowing through the pilot, Visa’s stablecoin program is no longer experimental. It is becoming a production payments channel.
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