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Visa is seeking a new stablecoin settlement and over-the-counter trading partner with cryptocurrency exchange licenses in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Singapore.
The search would fill a role previously held by BVNK after Mastercard completed its acquisition of the stablecoin infrastructure company on August 3. Visa declined to comment on the RFP.
Visa Wants One Licensed Partner Across US, Canada, UK, and Singapore
The RFP seeks a provider able to swap and support multiple stablecoins while providing settlement and OTC services across all four jurisdictions. Visa said the licensing requirement limits the number of eligible potential partners.
Visa has not identified the firms under consideration or disclosed when it expects to select a provider.
BVNK had been working with Visa Direct since January, providing stablecoin infrastructure for pilot programs that allowed eligible businesses to fund payouts using stablecoins and recipients to receive payments through stablecoin wallets.
Open USD Settlement Included in Visa’s New RFP
The prospective partner must also support settlement for Open USD, or OUSD, the dollar stablecoin introduced by Open Standard in June with more than 140 participating businesses, including Visa and Mastercard.
Visa separately launched its Visa Stablecoin Platform in July, beginning with OUSD. The platform gives financial institutions and fintechs tools to mint, redeem, hold and transfer supported stablecoins through a Visa-managed environment.
The platform remains in beta with select clients. Visa has not publicly identified broader availability dates.
RFP Follows August 5 ZeroHash Partnership
Visa also announced an August 5 partnership with ZeroHash to provide stablecoin prefunding and payouts for eligible Visa Direct clients. ZeroHash supplies regulatory and technical infrastructure for those services.
The new RFP was issued after that announcement and covers markets where ZeroHash lacks the licenses required for the procurement process.
Visa’s separate stablecoin settlement pilot had reached a $7 billion annualized run rate by April and expanded to nine blockchain networks. The latest RFP now seeks one provider able to handle stablecoin liquidity and settlement across four major regulated markets while supporting OUSD and other stablecoins.
