The next wave of digital money is transforming how value is created, moved, and settled across the global economy. New forms of digital value, such as stablecoins, tokenized assets, and onchain settlement, are redefining what will be considered “traditional infrastructure.” As a result, there is growing interest in blockchains optimized for real-time payments that emphasize speed, security, and reliability. As these technologies mature, strong governance and validation mechanisms are essential to enable safe scaling in always-on, onchain environments.
In this joint Q&A, Carl Rutstein, Head of Visa Consulting and Analytics (VCA), and Cuy Sheffield, Head of Visa Crypto Labs, share perspectives on this next wave of digital money building on recent stablecoin milestones including Visa joining Canton and Tempo as a validator, and the expansion of Visa’s global stablecoin settlement program to support nine supported blockchains. They discuss how stablecoins are reshaping the foundations of money, and how Visa’s experience operating blockchain infrastructure at global scale informs client advisory work.
Visa: Cuy, to level-set, at a foundational level, can you talk about how stablecoins emerged in the first place?
Cuy Sheffield: I love the way back machine. Let’s start with Bitcoin; it was not well positioned to be a medium of exchange, for many reasons, volatility being a big one.
Around 2018 and 2019, the concept of stablecoins started to emerge. The idea was that you could use blockchain technology without relying on a volatile cryptocurrency to transfer value. That helped decouple the currency from the idea of creating entirely new money, and instead positioned blockchains as modern infrastructure that existing forms of money could run on.
That’s when dollar-backed stablecoins emerged as a pragmatic solution: you take a dollar, hold it in a bank account in a transparent way, and issue a token on a blockchain that represents that dollar. That is where the “stable” part of stablecoins comes in.
From our perspective, these weren’t new currencies. They were a new form factor for existing currencies, a way to upgrade the technology and background architecture behind money. As we got more embedded in the ecosystem, helping with on-ramps and off-ramps, it became very clear by 2020 and 2021 that there was real value in this approach.
Visa: Let’s dive deeper into the pain points that stablecoins and blockchains address in today’s payments ecosystem.
Cuy Sheffield: One thing I often say is that blockchains don’t take bank holidays. You’d be surprised, when you’re running a global payments business, how many bank holidays exist all over the world.
And the fact that in 2026, when we’re building advanced AI systems, but may still be constrained when moving money on the weekend? We are at a time when bank technology should work 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
There are a number of other reasons that I’ve long talked about. We have published great resources and conversations over the last few years.
Read more on Visa Stablecoins Solutions here and listen to the Tokenized podcast, sponsored by Visa.
Visa: Building on that, what excites you most about the recent momentum we’re seeing in payments-focused and privacy-preserving blockchains?
Cuy Sheffield: We believe there’s an opportunity for next-generation chains that are built and designed specifically for payments, additional chains that can scale to many more individuals and financial institutions that have never touched blockchain before.
Canton Network, a privacy-preserving blockchain built for regulated finance, has gained wide adoption across capital markets as it has privacy built in from the beginning. Tempo is a blockchain purpose-built for payments. Its native privacy, compliance, and reconciliation features give enterprises and financial institutions the controls they expect from traditional rails, with the speed of stablecoins.
Visa has one of the most battle-tested payment networks; we think that this insight can be such a critical unlock for the stablecoin ecosystem.
Visa: As these ecosystems mature, what role is Visa choosing to play, particularly when it comes to building and operating infrastructure directly?
Cuy Sheffield: This is something new for Visa in some ways, but very familiar in others.
We’re excited to play an important role in various chains across the ecosystem, running validators, building on top of the chain, and helping our clients figure out how to use blockchains as they build new onchain products.
Visa: Carl, as Visa’s infrastructure work has accelerated, how have client conversations around stablecoins evolved since the December 2025 launch of the Visa Stablecoins Advisory Practice?
Carl Rutstein: What we have seen over the past quarter is that stablecoin adoption is not uniform, and client needs reflect that reality. While there are many factors at play, two forces consistently shape how adoption takes hold across both consumer and corporate contexts: macroeconomic conditions (especially inflation) and regulatory clarity and operating permission. In markets where those forces align, stablecoins move rapidly from experimentation to real usage. Where they don’t, adoption tends to be more targeted and infrastructure-focused.
That’s led to a clear shift in conversation. Early on, clients wanted orientation: what stablecoins are and what’s theoretically possible. Today, they’re asking much more specific questions: Where does this make sense in my market? Which use cases are viable given my regulatory environment? How do I move forward without introducing unintended risk?
This is why organizations increasingly come to Visa Consulting and Analytics not for generic enthusiasm about stablecoins, but for clear guidance on where, how, and whether they make sense for a given business, customer base, and risk profile. Our role is to help clients figure out what can work next, safely and at scale.
Visa: How does Visa Consulting and Analytics connect that client demand with on-the-ground infrastructure work like the recent chains Visa has collaborated with?
Carl Rutstein: One of VCA’s strengths is that our advisory work is closely informed by what’s happening on the ground, both inside Visa and across the broader payments ecosystem. Our teams work alongside colleagues who are operating live blockchain infrastructure, which gives us a practical lens on what’s feasible today versus where designs continue to evolve.
That connection matters because stablecoins are not deployed in isolation. They sit alongside existing payment rails, governance structures, and risk frameworks. Whether a client is exploring consumer-facing applications or more infrastructure oriented corporate use cases, our focus is simple: to help clients win by making informed decisions that work in their markets and stand up over time.
Visa: From an infrastructure standpoint, what capabilities are essential to support real-world, at-scale payments onchain?
Cuy Sheffield: Speed and throughput. Privacy. It also requires abstracting away native cryptocurrencies for gas. These are all properties that the chains Visa has collaborated with have been building. Combined with their amazing teams, we think this work is incredibly interesting and can help move the ecosystem forward.
Visa: Bringing it all together, what advice would you give organizations that are just beginning their stablecoin or onchain payments journey?
Carl Rutstein: Start by grounding exploration in your operating reality. The goal isn’t widespread adoption for its own sake, but understanding where stablecoins can add meaningful value, and where existing approaches already work well.
That means learning intentionally, testing thoughtfully, and aligning technology decisions with regulatory obligations, customer needs, and risk tolerance. Organizations that take this measured approach will be best positioned to move from experimentation to execution as adoption continues to evolve.
Cuy Sheffield: For anyone inside a large organization who’s curious and wants to push this forward, you have to start with a simple question: how do you bring your organization onchain?
There was a time when the internet was new and strange. Every company had to decide when they were going to get their first corporate internet connection, when to launch a website, and when to give employees email.
Visa: And how does that analogy apply looking ahead?
Cuy Sheffield: If you’re a financial institution and it’s 2030 and you don’t have any connection to a wallet, or any activity onchain, it might look like being a bank today that doesn’t have a website or a mobile app.
This ecosystem is only speeding up. The best thing you can do is start using the technology. Learn by using. Learn by building. Find a way to bring your organization onchain. That’s how progress starts.