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December 4, 2025.
Visa, the world’s largest card network, has officially partnered with digital-asset infrastructure provider Aquanow to route more than $2.5 billion in annualized stablecoin settlement volume across Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA).
Announced November 27, 2025, the strategic integration embeds regulated stablecoins, starting with Circle’s USDC, directly into Visa’s traditional payment rails, allowing banks, fintechs, and merchants to settle transactions 365 days a year in minutes instead of days.
Key Takeaways
- Visa has already surpassed $2.5 billion in annualized stablecoin settlement volume globally and is aggressively scaling in CEMEA.
- Settlements now operate 24/7/365, no more “banker’s hours.”
- The partnership bridges regulated banking with public blockchains, giving institutions a compliant path to instant settlement.
- Expect expansion: Visa confirmed it will soon support at least four stablecoins across multiple layer-1 networks.
- Clear bullish signal for tokenized real-world assets (RWA) and institutional crypto adoption.
How the Partnership Works
Aquanow provides the on- and off-ramps, liquidity pools, and blockchain connectivity, while Visa supplies its global issuer and acquirer network.
The result: financial institutions in the CEMEA region can now choose to receive or send settlement funds in USDC instead of correspondent banking wires, bypassing weekends, holidays, and multiple intermediaries.
Godfrey Sullivan, Visa’s Head of Product for CEMEA, described the move as “another key step in modernizing the back-end rails of payments.”
Aquanow CEO Phil Sham added: “Together, Visa and Aquanow are unlocking new ways for institutions to participate in the digital economy at global scale.”
Why CEMEA Is the Perfect Launchpad
The region processes over $1 trillion in annual cross-border flows, driven by remittances, trade finance, and rising fintech adoption.
Traditional settlement can take 2–5 business days and cost 3–7%.
Early pilot data from Visa’s 2023 USDC program showed settlement times dropping to under 10 minutes with fees reduced by up to 80%.
Conclusion
This is no longer a pilot or experiment. Visa, processing $15 trillion in annual volume, has placed one of its biggest bets yet on stablecoins as the future backbone of global money movement.
For businesses and consumers in emerging markets, the era of waiting days for international payments could soon be over.
As one senior Visa executive put it off-record:
“We’re not waiting for the future of payments, we’re building it right now.”
Read Next:
- STBL Protocol Launches Stablecoin 2.0
- Stablecoins for Carbon Credits
- Rise Stablecoin Payroll Review 2026
FAQs:
1. What exactly did Visa and Aquanow announce in November 2025?
A strategic partnership to route over $2.5 billion in annualized stablecoin (primarily USDC) settlement volume through Visa’s traditional payment rails across the CEMEA region, enabling instant, 24/7/365 settlement for banks and merchants.
2. How fast are Visa’s new stablecoin settlements compared to traditional wires?
Traditional cross-border wires can take 2–5 business days. With the Aquanow integration, settlement is near-instant, typically under 10 minutes, even on weekends and holidays.
3. Which stablecoin is Visa using right now, and what’s coming next?
Currently focused on Circle’s USDC for its regulatory compliance and liquidity. Visa has publicly stated it will expand to at least four stablecoins across multiple blockchains in the near future.
4. Who benefits most from this Visa-Aquanow deal?
Remittance recipients in Africa and the Middle East, exporters/importers in Eastern Europe, payroll providers, fintechs, and any business tired of slow, expensive correspondent banking.
5. Does this mean Visa is becoming a crypto company?
No, Visa remains a card and payments network. It is simply adding stablecoin settlement as another rail alongside fiat currencies, giving clients the choice of faster, cheaper, always-on settlement while staying fully compliant.
