Visa launches USDC stable currency settlement in the United States, and two banks have cooperated to break the weekend vacuum

Under the protection of the GENIUS Act, Visa officially introduced USDC settlement into the U.S. banking system, breaking the weekend liquidity gap. The annual stablecoin settlement of US$3.5 billion can be directly run on Solana.
(Preliminary summary: a16z Cryptocurrency Blockbuster Report: 2025 is the first year of institutional explosion, stablecoin transaction volume is comparable to Visa, farewell to adolescence and enter adulthood)
(Background supplement: When Visa and Mastercard fully accept stablecoin payments, what will the world look like?)

Contents of this article

Payment leader Visa announced yesterday that it has officially launched USDC in the United States. For stablecoin settlement services, the first cooperative banks are Cross River Bank and Lead Bank. Directly filling the liquidity gap of FedWire and SWIFT that have been suspended on weekends for a long time, the annual stablecoin settlement funds of US$3.5 billion can now be transferred on the Solana chain 24 hours a day.

On-chain settlement breaks the weekend vacuum

We know that traditional finance enters "sleep mode" after 5 pm on Friday, and funds usually cannot be cleared again until Monday. According to Visa’s official statement, USDC settlement allows card issuers and acquirers to switch to blockchain finality and receive instant credit on weekends.

• 7-Day Settlement Window: Improves the speed and liquidity of settlements for banks and fintech companies seven days a week, replacing the traditional five business day settlement window.
• Modern liquidity and treasury management: Enable automated, next-generation treasury operations for bank participants
• Interoperability: Connect traditional payment pipelines with blockchain-based infrastructure

From payment network to validator

Visa revealed that it will follow up on Circle’s newly developed Layer 1 chain Arc Establish self-operated verification nodes to extend the role of the payment network to the infrastructure layer. This means that Visa is gradually upgrading from a simple clearing intermediary to a blockchain operator.

At the same time, Cross River Bank and Lead Bank have connected their deposit and withdrawal APIs with Visa, allowing Fintech customers to use the same pipeline to complete the two-way flow of US dollars and USDC.

Next steps for banks

Visa global head of growth Rubail Birwadker said partner banks are "not just asking, they are preparing to go live." For banks, whether to access on-chain settlement is no longer an innovative option, but a required course. Only the fittest can survive. After all, consumers no longer want to wait another weekend.