Visa Expands Stablecoin Pilot Into Canada With Wealthsimple

Visa’s global stablecoin strategy has expanded to Canada for the first time through a collaboration of Visa Canada and financial company Wealthsimple.

The companies are collaborating on a stablecoin settlement pilot program in Canada, joining Visa’s global pilot program that is now processing billions in settlement volume, Visa said in a Tuesday (May 5) press release emailed to PYMNTS.

Through the pilot, Wealthsimple can satisfy certain settlement obligations with Visa Canada in USD Coin (USDC), according to the release. Wealthsimple offers a suite of financial products across managed investing, do-it-yourself trading, cryptocurrency, tax filing, spending and saving, and serves 4 million Canadians.

The pilot shows how stablecoins can integrate with existing payment rails to support institutional-grade settlement flows; gives institutions a way to explore new capabilities; and marks a step toward a modern settlement system for participating Visa members in Canada, the release said.

It enables seven-day settlement, interoperability with existing payment structure, and a foundation for next-generation liquidity management that supports future automation, treasury efficiency and flexible capital positioning, per the release.

“By bringing stablecoin settlement to Canada with Wealthsimple, we are building the infrastructure that lets the best ideas in money movement become reality at scale,” Michiel Wielhouwer, president and country manager, Visa Canada, said in the release. “Canadian innovation deserves world-class rails, and that is what we are hear to provide.”

Hanna Zaidi, vice president payments strategy and chief compliance officer at Wealthsimple, said in the release that the pilot is part of an effort to build a more dynamic and efficient payments system in Canada.

“Stablecoins represent a fundamental shift in how money moves faster, smarter and without the constraints of legacy systems,” Zaidi said. “Weathsimple is proud to be the first Canadian financial institution to bring this capability to life with Visa.”

Visa has been conducting live pilots and regional rollouts of stablecoin settlement for years. The company said in a Wednesday (April 29) press release that over the past year, it has seen stablecoins evolve from “a promising innovation” to “a practical way to move money globally.”

Over the last quarter, the pilot’s annualized stablecoin settlement run rate increased 50% to reach $7 billion.

Visa CEO Ryan McInerney said during an April 28 earnings call that “we’ve established Visa’s role as a key interoperability layer between this powerful infrastructure and real-world solutions for users.”