Visa has introduced an approach that combines VisaNet settlement data with blockchain-based lending infrastructure, aiming to help stablecoin-linked card programs and fintechs obtain working capital.
The payments company announced the initiative on September 8. With a customer’s authorization, a lender can use Visa settlement information alongside onchain transaction records to assess financing opportunities and structure repayment around settlement flows.
The model does not turn Visa into the disclosed lender. Visa describes its role as making payment-performance data available to support underwriting, while participating lenders provide capital through onchain infrastructure. The company has not disclosed standardized loan terms, borrower eligibility criteria, supported jurisdictions or a timetable for broader availability.
Settlement receivables become an underwriting input
Stablecoin-linked card programs still face conventional liquidity demands. Cardholders may spend before all funds have moved through the program’s settlement cycle, leaving an operator to finance obligations while its business is growing.
Visa’s proposal is to make settlement performance more usable in the credit decision. Combining VisaNet records with blockchain transaction data could give lenders a more current view of a program’s operating and repayment activity than a process based only on periodic financial statements or manual reporting.
That is an infrastructure change rather than a removal of credit risk. Lenders would still need to assess the borrower, collateral and settlement arrangements, while program operators would need to address data permissions, privacy, smart-contract controls and the legal enforceability of repayment mechanisms in each market.
Credit Coop is the early implementation
Visa identified Credit Coop as an early example of the model. The protocol provides working capital and settlement financing for stablecoin-linked card programs, using smart contracts to automate funding, collateral management and repayment.
According to Visa, Credit Coop combines authorized Visa settlement data with onchain records to evaluate credit performance and enforce repayment from settlement flows. Visa said the participating facilities have supported more than $2.5 billion in cumulative financed settlement volume since 2023, with more than 3,000 borrowing events and 9,000 repayment events processed onchain.
Visa also reported zero defaults across those participating facilities. That figure is a company-reported performance measure for the disclosed facilities, not evidence that similar structures will be risk-free at greater scale or under different market conditions.
Stablecoin card activity is growing, but scope matters
Visa said more than 160 stablecoin-linked card programs now operate on its network and that payment volume for those programs has grown nearly 200% year over year. It also reported that stablecoin settlement volume recently exceeded a $20 billion annualized run rate, more than 15 times its year-earlier level.
Those measurements describe different activities. Stablecoin-linked card payment volume reflects consumer or business spending through card programs, while stablecoin settlement volume concerns the movement of settlement funds. Neither should be read as the amount of credit supplied through the new lending model.
For payment companies, the operational significance is the proposed connection between card-network data and programmable financing. If expanded, it could make settlement receivables easier to evaluate and finance without moving underwriting entirely onchain. The unanswered questions are how consistently lenders can verify the data, how repayment priority works when a program is stressed, and which entities carry losses if collateral or settlement flows fall short.
An announced model, not a universal credit product
Visa’s announcement establishes that the data-and-lending model is in use with Credit Coop, but it does not describe a generally available Visa loan product. No additional lenders, pricing schedule, supported blockchains or rollout markets were named.
Payments firms evaluating similar financing should therefore separate the demonstrated workflow from the broader promise. The early implementation shows that settlement records and onchain automation can be connected. Commercial scalability will depend on underwriting discipline, data governance, contract design and the reliability of settlement-linked repayment under less favorable conditions.