Global card brand Visa views stablecoins as an opportunity, not a threat, and plans to develop it as a core industry. This means proactively building infrastructure to secure leadership as stablecoins, pegged to legal tender like dollars, emerge as a means of payment settlement.
According to the financial industry on the 9th, Visa announced at the William Blair Growth Stock Conference in Chicago that it has included stablecoins in its core business this year. Visa stated, "We see stablecoins not as a threat but as a massive opportunity" and "We will consider them as future currency and operate them on the Visa network like other existing currencies".
Visa previously established a partnership with Circle, the issuer of dollar-based stablecoin USDC in 2020. Visa's cumulative USDC settlement volume has exceeded $225 million (approximately 305 billion won). Visa predicts this could surpass $1 billion within the next 12-18 months.
Stablecoin-based card payments are also rapidly spreading. The cumulative payment amount for stablecoin payment cards issued by Visa in partnership with crypto companies like Crypto.com and Coinbase has exceeded $95 billion. As consumer experience with stablecoins becomes increasingly normalized, integration with existing card payment infrastructure is progressing quickly. A financial industry official noted, "Major overseas financial institutions are actively seeking business opportunities with stablecoins and virtual assets rather than rejecting or ignoring them" and "Virtual assets are an unstoppable massive trend, and Korean financial institutions should also hurry to respond, including stablecoin issuance".
In fact, major big tech companies are also rushing to enter virtual asset payments. According to Fortune, Apple has been discussing USDC payment introduction with Circle since early this year. Global ride-hailing platform Uber has also recently announced plans to introduce a stablecoin payment system. A virtual asset industry official stated, "The scale of payments bypassing banks and card companies is significantly increasing with the spread of stablecoin usage" and described it as a battle of whether to join the changing trend or fall behind.
- Reporter Kim Jung-woo
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