Visa has opened a formal route for onchain credit into its card network, announcing on September 8, 2026 that lenders can use VisaNet settlement data alongside blockchain transaction records to finance stablecoin-linked card programs and fintechs. The headline proof point, more than $2.5 billion of settlement volume financed since 2023 with zero defaults, is narrower than it reads: Visa’s own companion explainer attributes approximately $2 billion of it, about 80%, to a single borrower, the card-issuing platform Rain.
That concentration matters. Visa lists Rain’s interest paid to date at “$1.58 million and up” on roughly $2 billion financed, about 0.08% of the volume. That is the signature of capital drawn for days, not months, so the zero-default tally describes very short, very frequent exposures to one established Visa principal member, not proof the model can underwrite the newer programs Visa is courting.
How the onchain credit facility works
According to the Visa press release, the approach pairs VisaNet settlement data with onchain lending infrastructure so lenders can “better understand how a program is operating”. The early example is Credit Coop, whose stablecoin-denominated revolving facilities fund a program’s daily Visa settlement obligation before cardholders pay. With each program’s authorisation, Credit Coop receives its daily settlement files as a registered Third Party, Visa’s explainer says. Cardholder proceeds then pass through Credit Coop’s Spigot smart contract, which Visa likens to a lockbox under a deposit account control agreement (DACA), servicing interest and replenishing the line before cash reaches the borrower.
Visa says the infrastructure has executed more than 3,000 borrow events and 9,000 repayment events onchain. Rain, a borrower since August 2023, accounts for more than 2,000 and 7,000 of those. Visa also says borrowing costs for participating programs have fallen “by as much as 30%” as more lenders grew comfortable with the facilities, but it published no facility-level rates, and, as Decrypt noted, the release named no participating lenders.
Who is using it, and who is watching
Beyond Rain, which TIS last covered when it launched an agentic payments alliance in August, Visa names three programs under Rain’s Bank Identification Number (BIN) on the same infrastructure: Moto, Xplace and Karta. Karta, a US premium travel credit card, launched on a Credit Coop facility before announcing in June 2026 a $15 million Series A led by Galaxy Ventures and a $125 million credit facility from Community Investment Management. Visa presents that path as the template, while conceding warehouse lines and securitisation remain the norm: “Most of the largest programs on our network are financed exactly this way.”
“Payment companies have always had good collateral in their settlement receivables, but no way to show lenders how it performs in real time,” said Chris Walker, Founder and CEO at Credit Coop, in the release. Cuy Sheffield, head of crypto at Visa, was more measured with CNBC: “We’ve been running a pilot with a company called Credit Coop that is enabling a credit facility for stablecoin-linked card providers, which we think is a positive step forward for how onchain credit can start to come into our network.” Credit Coop told CNBC it has processed $2.7 billion in total volume. Mastercard, PayPal and Circle run rival stablecoin platforms, CNBC notes.
Why the settlement gap matters now
The move extends the Visa Stablecoin Platform launched in July. Visa’s stablecoin settlement ran at a $7 billion annualised rate when it added five blockchains in April, according to Decrypt; Visa now says that run rate has passed $20 billion, up more than 15x year over year, and that more than 160 stablecoin-linked card programs were live in its fiscal second quarter, with payment volume on them up nearly 200%. That is volume growth, not program-count growth as some coverage reported. The Visa Onchain Analytics Dashboard counts more than $694 billion of stablecoin-denominated loans sent through onchain lending protocols since 2020, a market where TIS has tracked newer entrants such as Tenor’s fixed-rate lending model.
Two caveats sit in Visa’s own footnotes. The $20 billion run rate is marked “to be confirmed with Investor Relations ahead of publication”, and the zero-default claim reads “Zero-default status to be reconfirmed by Credit Coop immediately prior to publication”. That is draft-stage language left on a live corporate page.
Visa’s next phase is just-in-time funding, where a program’s daily settlement file triggers a same-day disbursement for exactly the net amount owed, shortening exposures further. The real test comes when a younger program’s cardholders stop paying: a smart contract cannot route receivables that never arrive. Sheffield told CNBC that the GENIUS Act was a “huge” turning point that has banks approaching Visa, but until Visa or Credit Coop disclose lender names, loss waterfalls and results beyond the Rain book, onchain credit on Visa remains a pilot built largely on one borrower’s history.
This article is informational analysis only and is not financial, investment, or trading advice. Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile and can lose substantial value rapidly. Past performance and historical patterns do not guarantee future results. Do your own research and consult a regulated financial adviser before making any investment decision.
Karthik Subramanian
Karthik Subramanian is a founder, writer, and technology consultant with nine years in the crypto ecosystem. He covers token economics, L1/L2 infrastructure, DeFi protocols, wallets/custody, and the bridge between crypto and forex—broker technology, liquidity, and macro drivers. Karthik’s writing focuses on clear, practical frameworks that help professionals evaluate new products and on-chain innovation alongside FX market realities.
