Stellar (XLM) just scored one of its most significant integrations to date — Visa has added the blockchain to its stablecoin settlement platform, placing it alongside Ethereum, Solana and Avalanche. This is a big deal for the project, which a lot of people see as XRP's main rival in the payments area.
According to the official announcement, Visa has updated its system to support four blockchains and four USD- and EUR-backed stablecoins, including PayPal USD (PYUSD), Global Dollar (USDG) and Circle's EURC.
Stellar's inclusion means that Visa partners can settle transactions using stablecoins directly on the Stellar network, which should make cross-border flows faster and cheaper — one of the chain's original promises dating back to 2014.
But if you had a look at the price chart during the announcement, you would never guess anything happened at all.
Stellar (XLM) price reaction
Despite the headlines, XLM did not move much. The price was just under $0.42, slowly dropping over the last hour to $0.4190 even as the news about Visa dropped.
Stellar now has formal rails into Visa's global payments engine, which is something XRP has not managed in the U.S. yet. With stablecoins becoming a bigger part of card programs, fintech wallets and merchant tools, Stellar could be growing faster than the chart shows behind the scenes.
The market might not be responding in real time, but it is a big win in terms of structure. Stellar is now right up there with Ethereum in Visa's book. Whether that eventually translates to capital inflows is another matter — but for the infrastructure race, it is a big step forward.
Dan Burgin
Vladislav Sopov
U.Today Editorial Team