Visa is soliciting bids for a new stablecoin settlement partner after Mastercard bought BVNK, the payments firm that had been filling that role, according to CoinDesk.
CoinDesk reported Tuesday, citing documents it reviewed, that Visa is focusing in particular on one settlement partner and one over-the-counter partner. Both hold crypto exchange licenses in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Singapore.
The request calls for the ability to swap and support a range of stablecoins, along with settlement for Open USD, the token Visa named as the first supported asset on its Visa Stablecoin Platform, introduced on July 16.
Platform built for banks and fintechs
Visa built the stablecoin platform as an enterprise product for banks and fintech companies that want to issue or move stablecoins without assembling the full stack on their own. The product includes wallet infrastructure, minting and burning, dual-control approvals and audit logging.
Mastercard bought the firm already doing the job
Mastercard completed its acquisition of BVNK on Aug. 3. Visa’s relationship with the London-based company dates back to May 2025, when Visa Ventures invested in it. At the time, BVNK said it was processing $12 billion in annualized stablecoin payment volume.
Open USD sits at the center of the rivalry
Open USD adds another layer to the competitive picture because Visa, Mastercard and Stripe all back the same consortium behind the token. The two card networks are competing on infrastructure while sharing the currency running across it.
License requirements narrow the field
Licenses across four jurisdictions sharply limit the candidate pool, and Visa has not identified the firms under consideration. The company declined to comment to CoinDesk.
In the release announcing Visa’s stablecoin platform, Chief Product and Strategy Officer Jack Forestell said, 「Stablecoins are opening up a new layer of programmable money, but for most institutions the hard part isn’t the concept, it’s the operational reality.」
That operational issue now lands with Visa itself. The platform opened in beta with a small group of clients, so the vacancy is not yet constraining live transaction volume. Whoever wins the mandate would take on Visa’s institutional Open USD flow.