Visa’s $2.5 billion crypto credit bet puts card settlement financing onchain

Every card payment creates a timing problem for the company behind it. A card program may owe Visa through daily settlement before money arrives from its customers, leaving a short but recurring funding gap.Visa's onchain lending initiative, announced Sept. 8, targets that gap. Credit Coop, an onchain credit protocol, supplies revolving stablecoin facilities that can fund settlement and sweep later cardholder payments toward repayment.The design brings a conventional form of receivables finance onto blockchain rails. Smart contracts handle draws, cash-flow control and repayment, while authorized Visa settlement files remain central to underwriting and facility sizing. The result is a hybrid credit market in which execution becomes more visible while the decisive commercial data and risk terms stay permissioned.The settlement gap becomes collateralStablecoin-linked card programs settle obligations on Visa's schedule even when cardholders pay on a different schedule. That mismatch can be especially difficult for a young program whose transaction volume is rising faster than its access to bank credit or warehouse financing.Visa says the funding need is growing with its stablecoin busi...