Visa launches Stablecoin Platform for institutions, debuting Open USD

On 16 July 2026 Visa announced the Visa Stablecoin Platform (VSP), an enterprise‑grade solution that lets banks, fintechs and crypto firms mint, redeem, hold and transfer stablecoins within Visa’s regulated network. The platform’s first offering is Open USD (OUSD), a dollar‑pegged token created by the Open Standard consortium of more than 140 financial‑services companies.

VSP bundles a Wallet‑as‑a‑Service infrastructure, dual‑control transaction approval, audit logs and allow‑list controls, and integrates with Visa’s settlement, treasury, risk‑management and fraud‑prevention services. It is being rolled out in beta to a limited set of clients, with Visa aiming to serve its roughly 15 000 financial‑institution customers and over 200 million merchants worldwide.

Jack Forestell, Visa’s Chief Product and Strategy Officer, said “stablecoins are opening up a new layer of programmable money, but for most institutions the hard part is the operational reality.” Market reaction included a share‑price drop of 5‑7 % for Circle, the issuer of USDC, reflecting competitive pressure from the new Open USD‑centric platform. Visa expects the service to simplify institutional adoption of programmable money while leveraging its global payments reach.