Visa has started searching for a new stablecoin settlement partner after the payment infrastructure firm BVNK was acquired by Mastercard, according to a CoinDesk report. The request for product, or RFP, reportedly stresses the need to support a range of stablecoins rather than a single issuer or reserve design.
Why Visa Is Rebuilding Stablecoin Settlement Capacity
Stablecoin settlement has become a strategic area for major payment networks because it can move funds around the clock and across borders without relying entirely on legacy correspondent banking. BVNK had provided Visa with infrastructure that supported those flows, but the Mastercard acquisition now makes that relationship structurally awkward. The RFP language about supporting multiple stablecoins suggests Visa is looking for flexibility across tokens, blockchains, and settlement venues rather than a one-issuer fix. LMAX has made a related argument that stablecoins and tokenization are fixing crypto’s settlement bottleneck, and Visa’s search shows how payment networks are being pulled further into that shift.
What a New Partner Could Mean for Stablecoin Adoption
The process could intensify competition among stablecoin issuers, banks, and settlement providers that want to serve a global card network. The choice may also influence which stablecoins become more visible in everyday payments, especially for business-to-business settlement. Stablecoin wallets are becoming a parallel global dollar banking layer for businesses, as recent BVNK data showed, and a new Visa partnership could reinforce that use case.
