What happened
- Specific facts/numbers: Visa said on September 8, 2026 that more than $694 billion in stablecoin-denominated loans have flowed through onchain lending protocols since 2020; in a cited case study, Credit Coop said it has financed more than $2.5 billion of cumulative volume for Rain since 2023 with zero defaults.
- Institutions involved: Visa is the central company, with Credit Coop named as the onchain lender and Rain identified as a Visa Principal Member focused on stablecoin-linked card partnerships.
- Regulatory/technical context: Visa says many U.S. stablecoin-linked card programs need working capital because card settlement timing differs from customer repayment timing, so it is pairing VisaNet settlement data with onchain lending infrastructure and settlement-data-verified underwriting to help lenders fund those obligations.
- What to watch next: Watch for broader rollout to additional stablecoin-linked card issuers and fintechs; beyond Visa’s announcement and case-study examples, no specific next milestone was identified.
Why it matters
If this model scales, smaller stablecoin card issuers may gain access to working-capital financing that traditional banks have not efficiently served, potentially lowering a key bottleneck to growth.
HKMA Relevance
Indirect: The announcement concerns cross-border stablecoin and card-financing infrastructure that could influence payment models used by firms operating in Hong Kong, but no direct HKMA action was identified.