Visa is adding another regulated stablecoin to its settlement system, expanding its blockchain-based settlement capabilities. Through a new partnership with Anchorage Digital, USDPT — Western Union's U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin, issued by Anchorage Digital Bank — now serves as a settlement option for eligible Visa partners, offering a new way to settle obligations using blockchain-based assets, according to Anchorage Digital's official announcement.

Visa Adds USDPT to Its Stablecoin Settlement Rails

As of the November 13 announcement, Visa and authorized VisaNet partners are in a position to treat USDPT as a native settlement asset for VisaNet obligations. Settlement is the back-end step where obligations between Visa and its partner institutions are reconciled after transactions are processed, and moving that step onto blockchain rails is what gives the stablecoin a direct role in payment flows. USDPT is the first stablecoin issued by Anchorage Digital Bank to be supported on the settlement platform, and the agreement opens a path for additional tokens to be considered going forward.

The integration extends USDPT's payments function beyond its original scope within Western Union's payments network. The stablecoin is used for cross-border transactions and is settled on the Solana network, which provides fast and low-cost blockchain settlements. Anchorage states that USDPT is fully backed by U.S. dollars and is issued under federal regulation.

Stablecoin settlement is not new territory for Visa: the network first began settling obligations in Circle's USDC in 2021 and extended that capability to the Solana network in 2023, so USDPT builds on rails the company has been developing for several years.

Anchorage Brings Regulated Stablecoin Issuance Into the Visa Network

Under the agreement, Anchorage Digital Bank serves as both the issuer and the infrastructure provider. The bank operates under U.S. federal oversight and already issues a number of stablecoins of this kind, including Tether's USDT, Ethena Labs' USDtb, OSL Group's USDGO, and Western Union's USDPT. Anchorage states that its stablecoins are redeemable for U.S. dollars on a 1:1 basis and that attestations of reserves are published in accordance with its regulation.

By connecting USDPT to Visa's systems, the arrangement enables participating institutions to use the digital asset within their payments settlement processes. Eligible partners may leverage stablecoins for settlement while keeping their exposure within a federally supervised issuance framework, and can continue to rely on traditional banking rails alongside the new option — a combination that matters because blockchain transfers run continuously rather than on banking business-day schedules.

Stablecoin Settlement Moves Deeper Into Institutional Payments

The deal also points to stablecoins' increasing penetration of back-end financial services, extending their use beyond crypto trading and into the settlement infrastructure of mainstream finance. Anchorage has been building around this shift with Atlas, its institutional settlement network. The platform supports off-exchange settlement, collateral management, and cross-border transfers, allowing institutions to move digital assets without depending entirely on conventional payment schedules.

The Visa integration adds that model to payments use cases. In addition to serving as a crypto product, USDPT's role under the partnership is to be included directly in the settlement process of existing financial networks, placing the token within established payment infrastructure.

More Anchorage Stablecoins Could Follow USDPT

USDPT is just the first step. Anchorage and Visa noted that the partnership offers an opportunity to explore Anchorage Digital Bank's ability to support other stablecoins. As yet, no further details or release timelines have been announced by either company.

Any expansion will depend on the stablecoin infrastructure Visa decides to support and on the share of wallet operators that adopt the stablecoin settlement feature on its platform. The companies have not specified which additional tokens could be involved next, making both the pace of wallet-operator adoption and any follow-up announcements from Anchorage or Visa the near-term signals to track.

Source: Crypto Ninjas