Visa Opens Its Settlement Network to Anchorage Digital's Stablecoins

Anchorage Digital Bank and Visa can now settle obligations on the Visa network in stablecoins that Anchorage issues, starting with Western Union's USDPT. The arrangement, announced on Anchorage's press room on 12 November, makes USDPT the first Anchorage-issued token to reach Visa's settlement layer, with a framework in place for adding others later.

• Anchorage Digital Bank and Visa are letting select Anchorage-issued stablecoins, beginning with Western Union's USDPT, settle obligations natively on the Visa network.
• Visa said on its 27 October earnings call that its stablecoin settlement was running above $25 billion a year on an annualized basis, up from the more than $20 billion it cited on 8 September.
• USDPT is the first Anchorage-issued stablecoin switched on, and the companies say the deal sets a framework for adding more later, though it does not name the blockchains or the partners that qualify.

USDPT Is First, With a Framework for More

USDPT is a dollar-pegged stablecoin issued and custodied by Anchorage Digital Bank. Visa and eligible companies can now use it to settle their obligations on the Visa network, and it is the first Anchorage-issued stablecoin to be supported this way.

Western Union launched USDPT on 4 May as a dollar-backed asset for payments across its network, with treasury and agent settlement among the planned uses. Anchorage's aim is bigger than one token: the bank says it wants to become the settlement bank for stablecoins at institutional scale, issuing the tokens and supplying the custody and settlement infrastructure behind them.

Nathan McCauley, Anchorage Digital's co-founder and CEO, says the pitch comes down to who stands behind the money. "Stablecoins have made money move faster, but speed alone won't bring institutions onchain. They need a regulated institution behind the money," he said in Anchorage's release.

Where USDPT Sits Among Visa's Settlement Tokens

USDPT joins five stablecoins Visa said on its 27 October earnings call it already supports for settlement: USDC, USDG, EURC, PYUSD and SBC. On the same call, Visa said its stablecoin settlement was running above $25 billion a year on an annualized basis, up from the more than $20 billion it cited on 8 September, and that it supports 10 blockchains for settlement.

Chief executive Ryan McInerney put the reach at 10 blockchains and all five of Visa's geographic regions, with more than 225 stablecoin-linked card programs running and reaching 5 million cards in over 50 countries.

Dan Roesbery, Visa's vice president for global crypto partnerships and go-to-market, framed the USDPT support as giving partners "another trusted, institution-grade option backed by a federally chartered bank."

Visa keeps widening this plumbing. On 10 November it added Monad as another network for card issuers and merchant payment processors to settle obligations on, a move we covered when it was announced. The Monad Foundation did not say which stablecoins would be used on that chain.

Anchorage's Roster Rides on a Federal Charter

Anchorage Digital Bank already issues six institution-grade stablecoins: USAT for Tether, USDPT for Western Union, USDGO for OSL Group, USDtb for Ethena Labs, fUSD for Falcon Finance and ZLUSD for Zelle. Each is fully backed by U.S. dollars and cash equivalents, redeemable one-to-one, and minted under federal oversight.

Several of those names are ones people already meet in daily life, from Western Union counters to Zelle transfers, and each now has a token minted under a federal charter. The bank operates what it bills as America's first federally chartered crypto bank, overseen by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Its counterparty settlement network, Atlas, handles off-exchange settlement, collateral management and cross-border transfers.

Anchorage is funded by Andreessen Horowitz, GIC, Goldman Sachs, KKR and Visa, with its Series D valuation over $3 billion, and was founded in 2017 in San Francisco. On this deal, Visa is both a partner and one of Anchorage's backers.

What the Release Still Leaves Open

The announcement does not say which of the 10 blockchains Visa supports the USDPT settlements will run on, or which partners qualify as eligible. USDPT went live on Solana in May, following plans Western Union laid out in April.

It also does not say whether Visa will later support Anchorage's other stablecoins. Neither Visa nor Western Union has published its own statement on the deal: Visa's only comment came from Roesbery, through Anchorage's release.

And it puts no figure on what a sender or a recipient saves. The companies describe operational savings in funding and settlement rather than a cut to remittance charges or cash-out fees, with no published amount. USDPT can settle on Visa now; the chain it runs on, and the partners cleared to send it, are still to be named.