‘Future Will Be Combination of Traditional and Crypto Payments,’ Says Visa’s Crypto Chief as Stablecoin Market Hit $269B

Visa’s head of crypto, Cuy Sheffield, predicts the future will combine traditional and crypto payments as the stablecoin market reaches $269 billion, growing 62% over the past year with potential to expand to $2 trillion within three years.

The payments giant has surpassed $200 million in cumulative stablecoin settlement volume while positioning itself as a bridge between traditional finance and digital assets rather than viewing stablecoins as a threat to its core business.

According to a Bloomberg report, Sheffield’s team has expanded Visa’s stablecoin settlement business, partnered with major banks on token issuance, and inked deals with fintech firms globally.

The company launched its Visa Tokenized Asset Platform in 2024, enabling financial institutions to issue and manage tokens on blockchain networks, with Spanish bank BBVA planning a stablecoin launch on Ethereum.

Payment Giants Race to Capture Growing Stablecoin Market

The stablecoin sector achieved another milestone in July with total market capitalization reaching $261 billion, extending twenty-two consecutive months of growth.

However, as of Aug 12, the stablecoin total market cap has grown to $271B with over $2.6B added in the past week alone, according to data from DefiLlama.

Tether maintains leadership with $164 billion market cap, while USD Coin reached $63.6 billion, and Ethena USDe posted a remarkable 43.5% growth to $7.60 billion.

The GENIUS Act’s passage in July established federal regulations for payment stablecoins, mandating full 1:1 backing by cash or liquid US Treasuries with monthly reserve disclosures.

The legislation sparked corporate interest, with Western Union, Interactive Brokers, and Remitly exploring stablecoin integration for payment modernization.

Notably, Visa has partnered with Yellow Card Financial to bring stablecoin payments across 20 African countries, while Circle partnered with Onafriq, Africa’s largest payments network spanning 500 wallets and 200 million bank accounts.

Over 80% of intra-African transactions currently route through overseas correspondent banks, generating $5 billion in annual fees.

Similarly, Mastercard announced a partnership with Chainlink, allowing over 3 billion cardholders to purchase crypto directly on-chain through secure fiat-to-crypto conversion.

The collaboration leverages Chainlink’s interoperability infrastructure and Mastercard’s global payments network to power the Swapper Finance platform.

Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser has also revealed the bank is considering launching its own stablecoin as part of a broader tokenized finance push.

The bank projects stablecoin market capitalization could rise from $260 billion today to over $2 trillion by 2030, with base-case scenarios hitting $1.6 trillion.

Traditional Finance Embraces Blockchain Infrastructure Revolution

The growing stablecoin market has been drawing many traditional payment and fintech giants to find their feet in the market and bring crypto adoption to millions globally.

Just today, a report covered by Cryptnew reveals Stripe’s “Tempo,” a high-performance Layer 1 blockchain focused on payments.

This development would represent the most ambitious crypto initiative from traditional payment processors if implemented.

The Ethereum-compatible blockchain, which is speculated to be built in partnership with Paradigm, would control server layers processing stablecoin transactions.

The $92 billion company has executed a methodical acquisition strategy, purchasing stablecoin infrastructure firm Bridge for $1.1 billion and crypto wallet developer Privy.

Stripe has launched stablecoin payments across 70 countries and introduced Stablecoin Financial Accounts, enabling companies in 101 countries to hold and transact digital dollars.

Notably, MetaMask is also planning to launch “MetaMask USD” through a partnership with Stripe’s payment infrastructure, leveraging its 30 million monthly active users to challenge USDC dominance.

The proposal outlines building the stablecoin with Stripe, providing regulatory clarity and fiat backing.

Despite growth momentum, JPMorgan cast doubt on bullish projections, predicting stablecoins will only reach $500 billion by 2028.

The bank pointed to weak mainstream adoption and limited use beyond crypto trading, estimating just 6% of stablecoin demand comes from actual payment activity.

However, Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller acknowledged that 99% of stablecoin market capitalization links to the US dollar, believing “stablecoins can keep the dollar the world’s reserve currency” by increasing global accessibility.

Currently, over 20 million addresses now transact stablecoins on public blockchains as adoption accelerates across major sectors.

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