Summary
Visa is seeking a new stablecoin settlement and OTC partner with crypto exchange licenses in the US, Canada, UK and Singapore, after Mastercard acquired BVNK (Visa's previous stablecoin settlement partner) in August. The search includes handling settlement for Open USD, the stablecoin project fronted by Stripe, Visa and Mastercard. It reflects how both card networks now treat stablecoins as core infrastructure, racing to own the settlement layer and position against Circle's USDC.
Key Points
- Visa RFP seeks settlement + OTC partner licensed in US, CA, UK, SG
- Must handle swaps across multiple stablecoins + Open USD settlement
- Mastercard completed BVNK acquisition Aug 3 (up to $1.8B); BVNK processed ~$30B annual volume
- BVNK had been Visa's stablecoin settlement partner (engaged by Visa Direct)
- Visa partnered with ZeroHash (Aug 5) but it lacks the full license coverage
- Visa Stablecoin Platform (VSP) launched last month; Open USD initial token; beta
- Open USD: 140+ consortium (Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, BlackRock, Coinbase); zero mint/redeem fees, reserve income to partners
- Visa is multi-coin/multi-chain ("our role is not to pick winners" — McInerney)
- Visa CEO plays down Open USD threat to Tether/USDC; multi-coin strategy
- Stablecoin market ~$300B (CoinGecko)
- Industry: Mastercard acquiring BVNK mirrors Visa's $1.1B Bridge acquisition by Stripe; race to own stablecoin infra