Key Takeaways
- Visa selected two small state banks to pilot stablecoin settlement in the United States.
- Cross River Bank and Lead Bank don’t have any significant retail footprint, nor do they have a national bank charter.
- However, they play a crucial role in the U.S. fintech ecosystem.
Unless you’re actively involved in the intricacies of American fintech banking, you’ve probably never heard of Cross River Bank or Lead Bank.
Yet, with just a few billion dollars in deposits between them, the two institutions were selected by Visa to participate in a stablecoin settlement pilot that could have profound implications for the future of global payments.
Visa’s Stablecoin Pilot
Visa’s stablecoin journey began in earnest in 2021, when the company first utilized USDC to facilitate cross-border payments for Crypto.com’s Australian debit card program.
With Mastercard and other payment giants building out their own stablecoin rails, Visa has accelerated its efforts in 2025, expanding the pilot to different regions and markets.
Meanwhile, the company continues to develop new products for international businesses, including a fiat-to-stablecoin payout solution for digital platforms and marketplaces.
Now, as Visa transitions from the experimentation phase to real-world implementation, it is introducing stablecoin settlement to its largest and most significant market.
Visa Brings Stablecoin Settlement to the US
In an announcement on Tuesday, Dec. 16, Visa revealed that two state banks had successfully tested stablecoin settlement on its network in the United States.
“Visa is expanding stablecoin settlement because our banking partners are not only asking about it—they’re preparing to use it,” said the company’s Global Head of Growth Products and Strategic Partnerships, Rubail Birwadker.
Financial institutions in the U.S. “are looking for faster, programmable settlement options that integrate seamlessly with their existing treasury operations, […] while maintaining the security, compliance and resiliency standards our network requires,” he added.
In addition to faster payments and increased programmability, the advantages of stablecoin settlement include seven-day availability, removing delays for merchants that receive card payments on weekends.
While earlier initiatives, such as the Crypto.com card scheme, relied on Ethereum, Visa has since expanded its solution to other blockchains, with the latest pilot leveraging USDC on Solana.
Cross River and Lead Bank—Key Partners for American Fintech
Founded in 2008 and chartered in New Jersey, Cross River Bank has established itself as a “banking-as-a-service” (BaaS) provider for financial technology companies.
With just two physical branches and a few hundred employees, Cross River lacks a significant retail presence and rarely deals directly with account holders. But behind the scenes, it provides the regulated back-end for fintechs that want to offer credit and debit cards, loans, or payment services that require a bank charter.
Cross River’s frequently-cited clients include Affirm, Coinbase, Revolut, and Stripe, but it isn’t the only player in the space.
Although it has a much longer history as a community bank in Kansas City, Lead Bank has pivoted to a similar BaaS model in recent years. It even shares some of Cross River’s customers, counting Affirm and Stripe among the fintechs that use its services.
Two Small Banks, One Big Opportunity
Although America’s largest banks dwarf them, both institutions have secured a key role in the U.S. fintech sector, powering everything from crypto card programs to buy-now-pay-later apps.
As demand for fintech banking infrastructure grows, investors like Andreessen Horowitz, which has backed Cross River and Lead, have injected capital.
Now, with Visa’s support, the two banks sit at the vanguard of mainstream stablecoin adoption. If they can translate the latest pilot into a strong market lead, they could cement a role in what is projected to be a $3 trillion opportunity.
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James Morales is CCN’s blockchain and crypto policy reporter. He has been working in the news media since 2020, writing about topics such as payments, banking and financial technology. These days, he likes to explore the latest blockchain innovations and the evolving landscape of global crypto regulation.
With an educational background in social anthropology and media studies, James uses his platform as a journalist to explore how new technologies work, why they matter and how they might shape our future.
