The crypto narrative might have been debunked, but stablecoins have quietly made their way into Visa's settlement pipelines. Stablecoins are now on the verge of a breakout, with USDC's share in the settlement layer exceeding 80%, far surpassing USDT's share. On April 29, Visa officially announced the addition of 5 new chains for its stablecoin settlement pilot: Base, Polygon, Canton Network, Circle's Arc, and Tempo (backed by Stripe). Combined with the existing Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche, and Stellar, Visa now supports a total of 9 chains for settlement. According to the latest data, the annualized transaction volume for stablecoin settlements has reached ~$7 billion, marking a 50% quarter-over-quarter growth. This spans 50+ countries and 130+ stablecoin-linked card projects. Here’s a detailed breakdown of Visa’s strategy and some lesser-known facts that might change your perspective on Visa, Circle, and others