How Visa's USDC settlement and $7B run rate, Mastercard's BVNK deal, and INFINIOS in Bahrain change card settlement, and what stays the same for payouts.
Visa and Mastercard now let banks and card programs settle with the network in stablecoins. Visa launched USDC settlement in the United States on December 16, 2025 and reported a $7 billion annualized settlement run rate on April 29, 2026. Mastercard completed its acquisition of BVNK on August 3, 2026. Cardholders and merchants see almost no difference.
That last point gets lost in the coverage. Network stablecoin settlement is a back-office change. It moves the money that issuers and acquirers owe each other, not the money that reaches a merchant's bank or a recipient's account. This guide explains what each network has done, with dates and sources, and what it means for businesses that move money across borders. For how stablecoin cards themselves work, start with what stablecoin card issuing is.
Key takeaways
Card network settlement is the step where issuers and acquirers pay each other for the day's card transactions, with the network in the middle. It happens after the purchase is approved and cleared, usually the next business day.
A few definitions help:
In a traditional card program, settlement moves in fiat over banking rails. A stablecoin card program first converts the cardholder's stablecoins to fiat, then settles like any other program. How stablecoin card transactions settle walks through each step with worked examples.
There are two. In the traditional model, the card program converts stablecoins to fiat and settles with the network in fiat. In the newer model, the issuer settles with the network directly in a stablecoin.
| Traditional model | Stablecoin settlement model | |
|---|---|---|
| What the issuer pays the network in | Fiat, over banking rails | A stablecoin such as USDC |
| Who converts stablecoins | The card program, before settlement | Handled closer to the network side |
| Typical timing | Next business day | Set by the network's settlement program |
| What the merchant receives | Local currency | Local currency |
| What the cardholder sees | A normal card purchase | A normal card purchase |
The merchant row is the same in both. Merchants are paid in local currency on their normal schedule and never touch the stablecoin.
Visa has moved in four public steps since April 2025. Each one is dated and sourced below.
The run rate doubled from $3.5 billion to $7 billion between November 2025 and April 2026. That is growth in settlement flows, not in purchases.
Mastercard's biggest move was buying a stablecoin infrastructure company. It also has issuers settling with it in stablecoins.
Mastercard announced its acquisition of BVNK on March 17, 2026, reported by The Block at up to $1.8 billion, including up to $300 million contingent. Mastercard said it completed the acquisition on August 3, 2026. BVNK describes itself as enterprise stablecoin payments infrastructure, with products that include linking virtual cards to stablecoin balances.
The same day, Mastercard announced that INFINIOS went live on stablecoin settlement. The company described itself as the first issuer in Bahrain to enable Mastercard settlement using stablecoins.
Visa has published settlement volume and named US bank participants. Mastercard has bought a stablecoin platform and named an issuer settling in stablecoins. Both still pay merchants in local currency.
| Date | Network | Move | What it measures or changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 30, 2025 | Visa | Bridge card partnership in Latin America | Card issuing, six launch countries |
| December 16, 2025 | Visa | US USDC settlement launch | Issuers settle with Visa in USDC over Solana |
| March 17, 2026 | Mastercard | BVNK acquisition announced | Up to $1.8 billion, per reports |
| March 31, 2026 | Visa | 2025 card volume published | About $5.2 billion of card spend |
| April 29, 2026 | Visa | Settlement pilot expanded | Nine blockchains, $7 billion run rate |
| August 3, 2026 | Mastercard | BVNK acquisition completed | Stablecoin infrastructure inside Mastercard |
| August 3, 2026 | Mastercard | INFINIOS live in Bahrain | Issuer settles with Mastercard in stablecoins |
The two numbers measure different flows. Card spend counts purchases made with stablecoin-linked cards. Settlement counts money that banks and programs move to the network to cover obligations. Adding them double counts and mixes periods.
Visa's $5.2 billion figure covers stablecoin-linked card purchases for all of 2025. The $7 billion figure is an annualized settlement pace measured in April 2026. A third type of number comes from onchain trackers. Paymentscan showed about $1.224 billion of card program activity in September 2026, but its default view mixes spends, settlements, clearing, and top-ups, and some offchain data is self-reported by the programs.
Keep each figure with its source, date, and what it measures. Stablecoin payment statistics 2026 applies the same rule to wider payment data.
Most of the change sits with issuers and their banks. Cardholders and merchants see the same experience.
Onchain settlement vs bank settlement compares the finality and timing of each model.
Network settlement makes stablecoins part of card plumbing. It does not move money to a bank account in another country. Paying a supplier in Mexico, an employee in Brazil, or a vendor in Germany still needs a local rail at the end.
That gap grows as more programs launch. Visa expects its stablecoin-linked card programs to roughly double in 2026, and every program has users who want to move part of their balance to a bank account. Businesses paying teams and suppliers abroad face the same last step. A card covers purchases. Rent, payroll, and invoices need Pix, SPEI, ACH, SEPA, or SWIFT.
If you are choosing partners for a card program, how to choose a stablecoin card issuing provider includes the settlement model in its evaluation criteria.
BlindPay handles the leg that network settlement leaves out: turning USDC or USDT into local currency in a bank account. It sits beside a card issuer, not inside the network.
BlindPay pays out over Pix, SPEI, ACH, RTP, SEPA, and SWIFT (POBO/COBO) with UETR tracking and MT103 confirmations, with KYC, KYB, and sanctions screening in the same API flow. A payout quote locks the rate and fees before the stablecoins move, and no pre-funding is required. Plans are published with no volume floor.
If you run or plan a card program, map which leg each partner owns: issuing, network settlement, and cash-out to bank accounts. Then test the cash-out leg on a free development instance with the payout quickstart.
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