Visa’s crypto chief said the company is still betting on stablecoin settlements and sees volumes growing, which is one of those stories that sounds tame until you realize a global payments giant is treating stablecoins like real infrastructure. That is a much bigger deal than it looks at first glance because it means the industry is moving from “can this work?” to “how much can we use this?”

Stablecoins are easy to ignore if you only watch price action. They do not make for dramatic candles, they do not dominate social feeds, and they rarely get the same attention as whatever coin is trending that day. But they are the plumbing. They move money between exchanges, support trading, and increasingly act as a settlement layer that can cut friction out of the payment process.

Why Visa Matters...

Visa matters because it is not some random startup trying to convince the market that blockchain will fix everything if everyone just believes hard enough. It is already a core part of global payments, which means its interest in stablecoins is a signal that the technology is moving closer to everyday financial use.

That does not mean Visa is about to replace the card network with a stablecoin meme and call it a day. What it means is more practical: stablecoins may become part of the background infrastructure that helps money move faster and more cheaply across borders and systems. If that happens, the winners are not just crypto exchanges. The winners are the companies that can plug stablecoins into real payment rails without making the whole process messy.

Why This Is More Than A Crypto Story...

Stablecoins matter because they sit at the overlap of crypto speculation and traditional finance utility. Traders use them as cash, but businesses may eventually use them as settlement tools, treasury tools, or transfer tools. That is why every serious stablecoin development should be read as a payments story as much as a crypto story.

Reuters has already flagged Tether as crypto’s fragile foundation, which is another reason the stablecoin category keeps drawing attention. The market depends on these assets to stay liquid, but the real test is whether they can also stay trusted enough to support broader use outside crypto-native venues. Visa leaning in suggests that answer is getting closer to yes, even if the road is still messy.

What Traders Should Watch...

For traders, the useful angle is not just whether stablecoins get adopted, but which ones and through which channels. A payment giant’s support can strengthen the legitimacy of the whole category, but it can also shift attention toward the stablecoins and networks that are easiest to integrate at scale. That creates winners, losers, and a lot of fine print.

It also means stablecoin headlines are no longer background noise. They can affect exchange flows, payment adoption, and the long-term shape of market infrastructure. If you are trying to understand where crypto is going next, this is one of the cleaner signals on the board: less hype, more utility, and a lot more money movement behind the scenes.

The takeaway is straightforward. Visa pushing stablecoins into settlement is not flashy, but it is the kind of quiet move that can matter a lot more than the loudest chart on the screen.

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Author: Mark Pippen
London Newsroom
GlobalCryptoPress | Breaking Crypto News

More details have just emerged regarding Facebook's cryptocurrency project, perhaps giving us the most insight so far on the direction they're aiming to take the project.

An insider, speaking to The Wall Street Journal has just leaked some new information on the project, including it's name internally at Facebook, "Project Libra".

We already knew they we're 'going big' with this one - approximately 3 weeks ago we learned about the massive fundraising efforts going on behind the scenes - that's when we first heard the project's $1 billion dollar price tag, and that Facebook would be seeking outside investment to raise it. 

The reporter who published that story also dove into Facebook's current job listings and discovered 22 new roles within the company's blockchain department now accepting applications, bringing the total number of department staff from 40 to 62.

If the WSJ's unnamed source is to be believed, we now know some specifics on where that $1 billion will come from -  Visa, Mastercard, and a company you may not know by name, but processes many of the payments for both, First Data Corp.

Let's try to look on the bright side:

I know, it's starting to feel like an alliance of the worst corporations coming together to launch EvilCoin - but, this also may potentially serve as a gateway cryptocurrency.

Because Facebook's plan actually reaches far beyond Facebook - they've also been approaching major online retailers and hope to make their cryptocurrency an accepted form of payment at a wide variety of businesses.  Rumor is, they're pitching them with a pro-crypro argument I've heard since owning my first Bitcoins - all the money they could save on processing fees.

Now imagine - once a retailer has been coaxed into accepting this cyptocurrency, and sees the cumulative effects of saving the 2%-3% typically lost to credit card companies for processing, why would they stop here?

They'll soon learn there's billion held by potential customers in other cryptocurrencies that offer them that exact same incentive.

It's also going to be a lot harder for anyone to make generalized statements against cryptocurrency's legitimacy, with a Visa and Mastercard in their wallet, and the Facebook app on their phone.  Can you really be anti-crypto when everything in your pocket says you're wrong?

It may not be the path to mass adoption we dreamed of, but it's potentially a path nonetheless.

Facebook declined to comment on these latest rumors.

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Author: Justin Derbek
New York News Desk