What To Know:
- Cross River Bank and Highnote have joined Visa’s stablecoin settlement pilot, enabling USDC-based card transaction settlement on Solana within a regulated U.S. framework.
- The pilot allows eligible issuers and acquirers to settle with Visa seven days a week, improving clearing speed and capital usage without changing the consumer card experience.
- Visa said the initiative reflects growing adoption of stablecoins in mainstream payments, with U.S. banks now settling live transactions using USDC at scale.
Cross River Bank has joined Visa’s stablecoin settlement pilot, launching the capability in partnership with payments platform Highnote as stablecoins move deeper into regulated payment infrastructure in the United States.
Cross River Bank, Highnote Join Visa For Stablecoin Pilot Plan
The initiative brings USDC settlement into a live production environment, allowing eligible issuers and acquirers to settle card transactions using a dollar-backed stablecoin on the Solana blockchain. Visa said the pilot is designed to support faster clearing, continuous settlement, and improved capital efficiency, while leaving the consumer card experience unchanged.
Cross River, which provides embedded financial services infrastructure to fintechs and enterprises, said the program reflects growing demand for on-chain settlement within traditional payment systems. The bank will support stablecoin settlement for Highnote-powered card programs, enabling issuers to settle network activity seven days a week rather than relying on legacy banking hours.
“For stablecoins to reach scale, they need to operate inside unified financial systems,” said Luca Cosentino, head of crypto at Cross River. He added that the bank’s infrastructure is built to bring on-chain settlement into mainstream financial services in a controlled and compliant way. The collaboration with Visa and Highnote, he said, demonstrates how stablecoin settlement can function in real payment environments.
Visa’s pilot marks a shift toward practical deployment of stablecoins in the US banking system. For the first time, US-based issuer and acquirer partners can settle directly with Visa using USDC, a fully reserved stablecoin issued by Circle. Settlement takes place on Solana within a supervised framework that defines parameters around liquidity, reconciliation, and treasury management.
Highnote’s role centers on integrating stablecoin settlement into its unified issuing and acquiring platform. The company said the goal is to simplify how funds move across payment operations while improving reconciliation and settlement speed. Highnote CEO John MacIlwaine said stablecoin settlement only matters when it delivers measurable advantages in real payment flows. He described the pilot as a step toward faster and always-on payment operations.
Cross River recently launched its own stablecoin payments offering, which unifies fiat and stablecoin flows through a single interoperable system. The Highnote program will test stablecoin settlement performance across live issuing and acquiring use cases, focusing on settlement timing, accuracy, and operational impact for card programs running at scale.
Services under the pilot are currently limited to select US states, reflecting the structured rollout and regulatory oversight tied to the program. Visa has said the controlled launch is intended to evaluate how stablecoins can support shorter settlement cycles without introducing additional risk into the payment system.
According to Bloomberg, Visa has confirmed that Cross River Bank and Lead Bank are among the first US institutions to use USDC for transaction clearing through the Solana blockchain. The deployment represents the first full use of Visa’s stablecoin settlement service within the domestic banking system. Visa reported that its stablecoin settlement volume has reached an annualized run rate of $3.5 billion as of late November, alongside a broader increase in stablecoin-linked card programs worldwide.
Alongside the settlement pilot, Visa announced the launch of its Stablecoins Advisory Practice, a new service under Visa Consulting and Analytics. The practice is designed to help banks, fintechs, merchants, and enterprises assess stablecoin use cases, develop market strategies, and plan technical integration as regulatory standards continue to emerge.
Visa said interest in advisory services has grown as the stablecoin market capitalization surpasses $250 billion. Financial institutions are seeking guidance on how stablecoins fit into payments, treasury operations, and cross-border settlement. The advisory practice will offer training programs, market analysis, go-to-market planning, and technical enablement support.
Visa executives said stablecoins are increasingly viewed as a core payment rail rather than a niche crypto product. The company already supports more than 130 stablecoin-linked card programs across over 40 countries and territories. Additional pilots under Visa Direct aim to enable businesses in certain jurisdictions to pre-fund cross-border payments using stablecoins and send payouts directly to digital wallets.
For Cross River and Highnote, participation in the Visa pilot places both firms at the center of a broader push to integrate stablecoins into regulated payment infrastructure. The focus remains on settlement speed, reliability, and compatibility with existing card networks, as stablecoins continue to move from experimentation into everyday payment operations.
Also Read: a16z Report: Rising Stablecoin Use & Expanding Tokenization Efforts
