Today Visa announced the Visa Stablecoin Platform (VSP), an enterprise environment that allows financial institutions, fintechs and crypto native firms to mint, redeem, hold and transfer stablecoins. The platform launches with support for Open USD (OUSD), the consortium stablecoin unveiled by Open Standard two weeks ago with more than 140 partners, of which Visa is one. VSP is initially available in beta with select clients.
The platform includes a new wallet as a service offering, alongside controls such as dual approvals for sensitive transactions. Visa said VSP is interoperable with its existing stablecoin offerings, which span settlement, stablecoin linked cards and money movement.
“For most institutions the hard part isn’t the concept, it’s the operational reality,” said Jack Forestell, Visa’s Chief Product and Strategy Officer.
What is notable is how faithfully the platform reproduces Visa’s traditional role. Visa has never issued the money that moves across its network. Banks did that, while Visa provided the rails, the rules and the risk management. VSP recreates that position for stablecoins, at a moment when others in payments, most visibly Stripe, are pursuing a very different strategy.
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