Exclusive: Visa launches stablecoins advisory practice to keep up with crypto wave

Visa has launched a Stablecoins Advisory Practice to help fintechs, banks and other businesses develop strategy, technology, operations and implementation for stablecoins, saying client demand is driving the effort. The practice already serves dozens of clients including Navy Federal, VyStar and Pathward, targets use cases such as cross-border and B2B payments, and is expected to grow to hundreds of clients though some advised firms may elect not to proceed. The move builds on Visa’s existing stablecoin activity — a 2023 USDC settlement pilot, more than 130 stablecoin-linked card programs in 40+ countries and about $3.5 billion in annualized stablecoin settlement volume — and joins peers such as PayPal and Mastercard in scaling stablecoin capabilities amid recent U.S. legislation clarifying issuance rules.

Analysis

Visa announced the launch of a Stablecoins Advisory Practice to help fintechs, banks and other businesses with strategy, technology, operations and implementation of stablecoins, and said the practice already serves dozens of clients including Navy Federal Credit Union, VyStar and Pathward. Carl Rutstein framed the effort as client-driven and Visa expects the practice to scale to hundreds of clients, while noting some advised firms may decide not to proceed after evaluation. The move builds on Visa's existing crypto footprint — a 2023 USDC settlement pilot, more than 130 stablecoin-linked card issuing programs in over 40 countries and roughly $3.5 billion in annualized stablecoin settlement volume — and follows U.S. legislation (the Genius Act) that clarified issuance rules; peers PayPal and Mastercard are pursuing similar enhancements. The development creates a scalable advisory/revenue pathway and reinforces Visa's role as an infrastructure integrator for cross-border and B2B stablecoin use cases, but conversion risk, implementation complexity and evolving regulation mean near-term revenue impact is uncertain; key KPIs to watch are client conversion rates, settlement volume growth and new card program rollouts.

Key Decisions for Investors

• Consider a modest overweight to Visa (V) versus payments peers given its large existing stablecoin settlement footprint (~$3.5bn annualized) and a growing advisory pipeline, while sizing positions to account for execution risk
• Monitor leading indicators before adding exposure: growth in client count toward the firm's target of hundreds, reported stablecoin settlement volumes, and increases in stablecoin-linked card programs
• Maintain exposure to PayPal and Mastercard as competitive peers are also expanding stablecoin capabilities, but reassess relative positioning if Visa converts advisory engagements into measurable transaction revenue
• Manage regulatory and execution risk with position sizing or hedges and expect any material earnings benefit to be gradual rather than immediate