Meet the Tiny Crypto Banks Participating in Visa’s Stablecoin Pilot

Key Takeaways

• Visa selected 2 tiny authorities banks to aviator stablecoin colony successful the United States.

• Cross River Bank and Lead Bank don’t person immoderate important retail footprint, nor bash they person a nationalist slope charter.

• However, they play a important relation successful the U.S. fintech ecosystem.

Unless you’re actively progressive successful the intricacies of American fintech banking, you’ve astir apt ne'er heard of Cross River Bank oregon Lead Bank. 

Yet, with conscionable a fewer cardinal dollars successful deposits betwixt them, the 2 institutions were selected by Visa to enactment successful a stablecoin colony aviator that could person profound implications for the aboriginal of planetary payments.

Visa’s stablecoin travel began successful earnest successful 2021, erstwhile the institution archetypal utilized USDC to facilitate cross-border payments for Crypto.com’s Australian debit paper program. 

With Mastercard and different outgo giants gathering retired their ain stablecoin rails, Visa has accelerated its efforts successful 2025, expanding the pilot to antithetic regions and markets.

Meanwhile, the institution continues to make caller products for planetary businesses, including a fiat-to-stablecoin payout solution for integer platforms and marketplaces.

Now, arsenic Visa transitions from the experimentation signifier to real-world implementation, it is introducing stablecoin colony to its largest and astir important market.

In an announcement connected Tuesday, Dec. 16, Visa revealed that 2 authorities banks had successfully tested stablecoin colony connected its web successful the United States. 

“Visa is expanding stablecoin colony due to the fact that our banking partners are not lone asking astir it—they’re preparing to usage it,” said the company’s Global Head of Growth Products and Strategic Partnerships, Rubail Birwadker.

Financial institutions successful the U.S. “are looking for faster, programmable colony options that integrate seamlessly with their existing treasury operations, […] portion maintaining the security, compliance and resiliency standards our web requires,” helium added.

In summation to faster payments and accrued programmability, the advantages of stablecoin settlement see seven-day availability, removing delays for merchants that person paper payments connected weekends. 

While earlier initiatives, specified arsenic the Crypto.com paper scheme, relied connected Ethereum, Visa has since expanded its solution to different blockchains, with the latest aviator leveraging USDC connected Solana.

Founded successful 2008 and chartered successful New Jersey, Cross River Bank has established itself arsenic a “banking-as-a-service” (BaaS) supplier for fiscal exertion companies.