TL;DR
- Visa will redefine DeFi as “onchain finance” to connect credit protocols with financial institutions.
- It will act as an infrastructure and compliance layer, without issuing tokens or granting loans.
- The stablecoin credit market has exceeded $670 billion since 2020.
Visa announced its intention to build the “rails” for lending in what it calls onchain finance, its new name for DeFi. With this move, it seeks to connect traditional banks and institutions with automated credit protocols. The report “Stablecoins Beyond Payments: The Onchain Lending Opportunity” positions Visa as a layer of data, custody, and infrastructure to bridge the traditional and crypto worlds.
Institutional aspirations and underlying market
The company emphasizes that it will not issue tokens or directly handle credit: its role will be to provide APIs, settlement systems, analytics, and compliance to facilitate institutional participation. Visa offers this bridge without assuming counterparty risk. In its report, the company highlights that the stablecoin credit market already exceeds $670 billion issued since 2020.
Visa aims to position itself as the network that connects traditional financial infrastructure with automated credit markets. In its narrative, stablecoins have evolved from simple exchange tools to a central hub for continuous credit. Projects such as Morpho, Credit Coop, and Huma Finance are cited as examples of how algorithmic credit backed by collateral and automated liquidity actually works.
The proposal arouses a mixture of amazement and curiosity. Visa, historically synonymous with traditional payments, now seeks to establish itself as the essential bridge between classic banking and decentralized finance. Its goal is to offer a secure, scalable, and regulated infrastructure that allows institutions to enter the on-chain ecosystem without directly exposing themselves to the risks of the crypto market.
This move not only redefines the role of a global payments company, but also raises an inevitable question: will the traditional financial system agree to share its foundations with the technology that promised to replace it?
