The payments industry has traditionally talked about transaction data as something companies can analyze after money moves. But card networks are now beginning to test using payment data to determine how much money can move next.
On Tuesday (Sept. 8), Visa announced an initiative combining VisaNet settlement data with blockchain-based lending infrastructure to provide working capital to stablecoin-linked card programs and FinTechs. Visa is effectively making settlement receivables observable and financeable in something approaching real time.
“We’re seeing how trusted payment data and onchain technologies can work together to unlock new forms of liquidity, helping businesses access capital in ways that are more transparent, programmable and aligned to the speed of modern commerce,” Visa Global Head of Growth Products and Partnerships Rubail Birwadker said in a statement.
Card programs have always faced a timing mismatch: they need to satisfy network settlement obligations before necessarily receiving corresponding funds from cardholders. That creates a working-capital requirement normally handled through bank credit lines, warehouse facilities or the issuer’s own balance sheet.
By contrast, if verified settlement information can continuously demonstrate the existence, size and performance of a payment obligation, lenders may be able to underwrite that obligation more precisely. Borrowers may need less prefunding, credit facilities could adjust more dynamically to actual transaction flows, and capital that previously sat idle as protection against settlement risk could potentially be redeployed.
Read more: Circle $400M Tazapay Deal Buys the Last Mile Stablecoins Still Need
Stablecoins Are Giving Payment Networks a New Role in Working Capital
The next major efficiency gain from real-time payments may not come from moving cash faster. It may come from financing the milliseconds, hours and days surrounding that movement far more precisely.
The initial use case of the working capital and settlement data launch is specific. Card programs must fund settlement obligations before collecting corresponding funds from cardholders, creating a recurring financing gap that becomes more demanding as transaction volumes grow. Visa says more than 160 stablecoin-linked card programs were operating on its network during its fiscal second quarter, with payment volume approaching 200% year-over-year growth. Its stablecoin settlement volume has passed a $20 billion annualized run rate, more than 15 times the year-earlier level.
At the same time, a substantial credit market already exists on chain. Visa estimated that more than $694 billion in stablecoin-denominated loans have moved through on-chain lending protocols since 2020. The missing connection has been between that pool of digital liquidity and ordinary commercial payment activity.
Settlement data could connect the two.
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Instead of a company obtaining a fixed credit facility based largely on periodic underwriting, stablecoin data-led financing could respond to observable payment activity. Higher verified settlement volumes might support greater borrowing capacity. Repayment could occur automatically as settlement cycles complete, while collateral requirements could theoretically change as exposures chang
The result would not simply be faster lending. It would be a different relationship between payments and credit, where financing becomes embedded directly into the transaction lifecycle. Stablecoins change one side of the equation because the assets can move continuously. On-chain lending changes another because borrowing, collateral and repayment logic can operate continuously as well.
Read more: What Stablecoins Can Learn From the $12 Trillion Repo Market
Settlement Data is Becoming a 21st Century Underwriting Primitive
A company doesn’t simply need money to arrive quickly. It needs liquidity available before settlement, sufficient collateral to obtain financing, controls governing when funds can move, visibility into outstanding obligations and mechanisms for automatically repaying borrowed capital.
The first generation of stablecoin infrastructure focused on making money move faster. The next generation may be about making capital surrounding those payments move faster.
This can be seen outside of just Visa’s launch. For example, Brazil’s central bank and the ECB are exploring a connection between Pix and Europe’s TIPS infrastructure, another sign that payment systems themselves are moving toward faster and more interconnected settlement. Stablecoins are developing alongside that conventional real-time infrastructure rather than in isolation.
The competitive question therefore isn’t whether stablecoins replace existing payment rails. It is whether programmable money allows financial institutions to attach credit, liquidity and treasury services directly to the payment event in ways existing rails have historically struggled to support.
Visa’s advantage in that world may not just be its network. It could be the enormous dataset generated by the network.
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