Visa tests privacy-first stablecoin settlement with Brale

In a major development, payments giant Visa is collaborating with stablecoin infrastructure firm Brale to run a proof of concept for institutional payment settlement using SBC, a U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin, on the Canton Network, with privacy controls as the central focus, according to the official announcement.

The test aims to determine whether blockchain-based settlement can meet the confidentiality standards that banks and payment networks require, officials said. As per the press release, Canton differs from most public blockchains in that participants share infrastructure while transaction data remains selectively visible, meaning institutions do not have to expose sensitive settlement information to use the network.

Visa has been settling VisaNet obligations using stablecoins since 2021. The Brale collaboration expands that scope, with SBC being evaluated as an additional stablecoin option for institutional use cases. Brale operates a modular, API-based platform covering issuance, minting, redemption, compliance controls, and treasury management.

Visa’s Head of Crypto, Cuy Sheffield, described the initiative as an evaluation of what production readiness looks like for privacy-enabled stablecoin settlement. Brale CEO Ben Milne pointed to growing institutional demand for stablecoin infrastructure that satisfies regulatory and privacy requirements, beyond the typical selling points of speed and cost.

The announcement coincides with a notably active week for institutional stablecoin adoption. MoneyGram launched its MGUSD stablecoin on Stellar, Bybit integrated USDPT with Western Union, and a Federal Reserve official publicly endorsed dollar stablecoins as a global monetary tool.

Visa has also stated it views stablecoins as a scalable, next-generation settlement layer for global payments.