Stablecoin Banking Competition Expands Beyond Settlement

What Happened

Visa’s stablecoin settlement run rate rose from $3.5 billion annualised in November 2025 to about $7 billion by March 2026. The company has since expanded a pilot that lets eligible issuers and acquirers settle obligations using stablecoins on supported blockchains, according to its announcement.

Mastercard added support for several stablecoins across multiple networks in June. Earlier in 2026, it agreed to acquire BVNK for up to $1.8 billion.

Wirex says its BaaS operation reached $1 billion in annualised settlement volume within 131 days of launching in November 2025. The rate was calculated from activity across Base and Stellar during that period.

That boundary becomes harder to explain as stablecoin neobanks add credit, trading and investment products.

Market Context

That contest is pulling payment networks, fintech firms and crypto companies into the same market. The supply of stablecoins tracked by Artemis reached about $315.6 billion in July 2026, while daily transfers averaged $195.6 billion. Commercial use across payments, payroll and cross-border settlement is giving providers more reason to build full financial products around those flows.

A stablecoin payment may involve an issuer, a blockchain network, a wallet, a card programme and a liquidity provider. The customer usually sees one app and expects that company to fix the problem.

Its Earn product advertises variable returns of up to 9.75% through DeFi markets including Morpho and Aave. Matveev said the return comes from lending demand rather than token incentives.

Why It Matters

Stablecoins can move dollars around the clock. The harder question is who controls everything surrounding the transfer: the account, the card, currency conversion, the customer relationship and the risk when something goes wrong.

The numbers suggest early demand. The stronger test will be how many partners go live, how frequently their customers transact and whether those flows produce durable revenue.

Details

Visa, Mastercard and Stripe are strengthening the settlement infrastructure. Specialist firms such as Wirex are betting that the larger commercial opportunity sits closer to the customer.

Card Networks Build the Rails

Stripe has also integrated stablecoin acceptance and fiat settlement. Its acquisition of Bridge added technology for issuing, transferring and converting digital dollars.

Their entry gives stablecoins access to established payment networks. It also sharpens the question of who owns the customer-facing layer.

“There are plenty more parts of the system which allow the stablecoin industry to operate, and it’s impossible for Visa and Mastercard to own them all. Even in the traditional financial system, they’ve never chosen to become card issuers,” Wirex Group CEO and Co-Founder Pavel Matveev told BeInCrypto.

Payment networks connect institutions and merchants. Issuers and fintech platforms control the accounts, cards and interfaces customers use each day.

Wirex is pursuing that layer through its banking-as-a-service business, which supplies stablecoin-linked products to exchanges, wallets and other fintech firms.

Customer Access Is Where the Revenue Sits

Settlement moves money between participants after a transaction has been authorised. The surrounding services create more ways to earn through card interchange, foreign exchange, programme fees and financial products linked to customer balances.

“This is a huge part of the end-to-end financial transaction, and owning a large chunk gives these businesses more ways to deepen the relationship with customers across multiple touchpoints and earn revenue,” Matveev said.

Matveev also said the company has more than 300 active partner discussions, with BingX, EVEDEX and Crossmint already integrated.

More Control Means More Liability

The same model that gives providers greater commercial control also concentrates responsibility.

“The responsibility ends where our control ends. In some cases, such as when a stablecoin loses its peg, the stablecoin issuer bears responsibility,” Matveev said.

Wirex One, an upcoming onchain app, plans to combine card spending and foreign exchange with tokenised equities, asset-backed credit and perpetual futures offering leverage of up to five times.