“The payments giant’s latest report rebrands decentralized finance as “onchain finance” and positions Visa as the data and custody layer connecting banks to a $670B stablecoin credit market.”, — write: www.coindesk.com
The report, titled Stablecoins Beyond Payments: The Onchain Lending Opportunity, reframes decentralized finance as “onchain finance” – a deliberate rebrand aimed at making decentralized credit sound compatible with institutions in the era of the GENIUS Act – and outlines how banks and private credit funds could plug into it.
Visa envisions institutions acting as liquidity providers to programmable lending protocols, while it supplies the data, compliance, and infrastructure that make participation viable. The payment network believes that its familiar name and trusted rails would entice institutions – with their trillions in capital – to come onboard.
Visa’s white paper marks a clear shift in tone from crypto experimentation to institutional infrastructure. The company says the emerging “onchain finance” market has already issued more than $670 billion in stablecoin loans since 2020, with lending activity reaching new highs in mid-2025.
The state of the onchain credit market (Allium)
That scale, Visa argues, shows stablecoins have evolved beyond trading tools to become the backbone of automated credit markets that run continuously and settle instantly.
To illustrate the model, the report highlights three examples where stablecoin-based credit is already functioning at scale.
Morpho, a liquidity “meta-layer,” connects institutional wallets and exchanges like Coinbase, Ledger, and Bitpanda, allowing borrowers to post tokenized bitcoin as collateral for USDC loans. Credit Coop, which Visa directly partners with, uses smart contracts to split and redirect merchant receivables.
And finally, Huma Finance which supports cross-border working-capital loans, automating supplier payments and recycling liquidity to generate double-digit annual yields.
As the report outlines, Visa’s strategy looks a lot like it does for TradFi. It doesn’t plan to issue tokens or directly fund loans. Rather, it’s a technology play without exposure to counterparty lending risk.
Instead, the payment network wants to own the rails: the APIs, analytics, and settlement systems that allow programmable credit to plug into the traditional financial world. It wouldn’t be involved in crypto projects, just facilitate the connections between them and TradFi.
Just as it once turned card payments into a global network, Visa now hopes to do the same for onchain credit, positioning itself as the infrastructure layer of programmable finance.
Combined spot and derivatives volumes fell 17.5% in September, continuing a four-year seasonal trend
- Trading activity falls 17.5% in September slowdown: Combined spot and derivatives volumes dropped to $8.12 trillion, marking the first decline after three months of growth. September has now seen reduced trading volume for the fourth consecutive year.
- Open interest reaches record high despite derivatives market share decline: Total open interest surged 3.2% to $204 billion and peaked at an all-time high of $230 billion during the month.
- Altcoins on CME outperform as Bitcoin and Ether futures decline: While CME’s total derivatives volume remained flat at $287 billion (-0.08%), SOL futures jumped 57.1% to $13.5 billion and XRP futures rose 7.19% to $7.84 billion. BTC and ETH futures fell 4.05% and 17.9% respectively.
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With the ACRA submission complete, the exchange enters the implementation phase, or a period during which users will receive distributions and Recovery Tokens (RTs) under the scheme.
- Indian crypto exchange WazirX will reopen within 10 business days following the court-approved restructuring scheme filed with Singapore’s ACRA.
- Over 95% of creditors supported the restructuring plan, which was sanctioned by the High Court of Singapore.
- WazirX’s reopening follows a $240 million hack and bankruptcy, with users set to receive Recovery Tokens based on their claims.
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