Visa Bypasses Issuance to Control Global Payment Channels via OpenUSD Alliance

Woofun AI reports that Visa has fundamentally restructured its approach to digital assets by joining the Open Standard Alliance to support OpenUSD, explicitly prioritizing a multi-currency, multi-chain settlement strategy over direct stablecoin issuance. This strategic pivot, announced alongside its Q3 2026 financial results, signals a deliberate move to control the underlying payment rails rather than compete in the crowded issuance market, effectively positioning the company as an infrastructure provider rather than a token issuer.

The financial backdrop for this strategic shift is robust, with Visa reporting net revenue of $11.6 billion for Q3 2026, representing a 14% year-on-year increase. The total payment amount processed during the quarter exceeded $4 trillion for the first time in the company's history, marking a significant milestone in transaction volume. On July 28, 2026, the company released these figures, highlighting earnings per share of $3.32, which CEO Ryan McInerney noted surpassed internal expectations. At fixed exchange rates, payment amounts grew by 10% year-on-year, while the number of transactions processed also increased by 10% to reach 72 billion. Cross-border transaction volume, a high-margin segment for Visa, maintained double-digit growth alongside payment transaction volume and processed transactions, underscoring the strength of its core business despite the broader macroeconomic uncertainties.

However, the financial report reveals a more complex internal restructuring, characterized by significant workforce reductions and resource reallocation. Visa disclosed layoffs primarily targeting technology and product teams, resulting in a GAAP severance charge of $563 million for the quarter. This cost-cutting measure was juxtaposed with aggressive capital return strategies, including $4.9 billion in stock repurchases and $1.3 billion in dividend distributions. The freed-up resources are not being hoarded but are being strategically directed toward three key growth areas: artificial intelligence, stablecoins, and agency commerce. This indicates a deliberate trade-off, where short-term headcount reduction is funding long-term infrastructure investments, suggesting that the company views stablecoin integration as a critical component of its future revenue model rather than a peripheral experiment.

Visa’s investment strategy spans the entire stablecoin ecosystem, from the foundational blockchain layer to the application layer, with a specific focus on issuance and application capabilities in the current quarter. The company has positioned itself across blockchain, issuance, wallets, infrastructure, and application layers, aiming to facilitate global capital flow through comprehensive integration. By joining the Open Standard Alliance, Visa is participating in the issuance of OpenUSD, a new stablecoin designed to streamline cross-border payments. This broad-layered approach allows Visa to remain agnostic to specific blockchain technologies while ensuring that its infrastructure can support any compliant stablecoin, thereby maximizing its utility as a universal settlement layer.

On the application side, the Visa Stablecoin Platform (VSP) serves as the primary vehicle for this strategy, launched in mid-July to enable financial institutions, fintech companies, and crypto-native entities to integrate stablecoin capabilities. The platform provides a Visa-managed environment for deposits, custody, and redemption, initially supporting OUSD. Partners can settle with Visa using stablecoins, access on-chain wallet-as-a-service infrastructure, and seamlessly transfer funds between fiat currencies and stablecoins. This structure allows traditional financial entities to leverage stablecoin efficiency without managing the technical complexities of blockchain integration, effectively lowering the barrier to entry for institutional adoption while keeping Visa at the center of the transaction flow.

A less discussed but critical component of this strategy is the integration with Pismo, a payment infrastructure company, to provide tokenized deposit support for financial institutions. Visa plans to introduce third-party tokenized deposit infrastructure providers in the future, expanding its reach into the banking sector. Tokenized deposits and stablecoins are technically similar but structurally distinct: the former represents an on-chain expression of bank liabilities, while the latter is a currency substitute issued by non-bank entities. By positioning itself on both sides, Visa is creating a bridge between the traditional banking system and the crypto system, ensuring that it remains relevant regardless of which model gains dominance. This dual positioning allows Visa to capture value from both regulated bank liabilities and decentralized stablecoin transactions.

Woofun AI data shows that the market concentration in the stablecoin sector presents a significant barrier to entry for new issuers, reinforcing Visa’s decision to avoid direct competition. As of the end of July 2026, the total market capitalization of stablecoins was approximately $303.2 billion, with USDT accounting for $184.2 billion and USDC for $73.4 billion. The overall market cap has slightly contracted by 3.3% over the past 90 days, indicating a stagnant growth environment. In a market dominated by two issuers, the cost for any new entrant to capture market share is extremely high.

However, by focusing on settlement, exchange, and wallet services rather than issuance, Visa bypasses this competitive hurdle. Regardless of which stablecoin achieves the largest market share, every transaction must eventually pass through Visa’s network, allowing the company to collect fees without taking on the risks associated with token issuance.

The Open Standard Alliance, which includes over 140 founding partners, aims to launch OpenUSD later in 2026, with Solana serving as the initial chain. The alliance comprises major players from payments, banking, technology, and crypto industries, including Mastercard, Stripe, BlackRock, BNY, Standard Chartered, Google, Shopify, Coinbase, and Ripple. Zach Abrams, CEO of Bridge under Stripe, serves as the founding CEO of Open Standard. The token’s design features zero-cost minting and redemption, no limits on amounts, and nearly all reserve income flowing back to partners after deducting management fees. Lorenzo Valente, an ARK analyst, posted on X on July 29 that the commitments of OUSD partners resemble a soft letter of intent rather than a strategic bet, highlighting the gap between supporting the standard and genuinely investing in its distribution channels.

Despite the impressive list of partners, the alliance faces significant controversies and notable absences. Shortly after the announcement, several companies denied their involvement: Samsung stated it had not formally negotiated with Open Standard and was unclear about its role; Dunamu, Shinhan Bank, and K Bank said they had received inquiries but had not approved participation, with some learning of their listing from media reports. More critically, the three largest USD stablecoin issuers—Circle, Tether, and PayPal—are absent from the partnership. Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire criticized the alliance-style stablecoin model as structurally prone to failure. This lack of consensus among current market leaders suggests that the alliance may not represent a unified industry standard but rather a fragmented attempt to challenge the existing duopoly.

Visa’s strategic conclusion is clear: it is betting on channel control rather than token issuance. By maintaining a multi-currency, multi-chain approach, Visa avoids picking winners in the stablecoin market, instead focusing on integrating its merchant network and card issuer relationships with any compliant stablecoin. This allows Visa to act as an observer in the issuance competition while ensuring that all transactions ultimately flow through its infrastructure. The company’s role is not to compete with Circle or Tether but to become the indispensable toll-collector for global digital payments. This strategy minimizes risk while maximizing long-term revenue potential, as Visa controls the channels through which all stablecoin transactions must pass, regardless of which token achieves dominance.