Visa and Brale have begun a proof-of-concept to test institutional settlement using the SBC stablecoin on the Canton Network, in a move that highlights how traditional payment firms are building blockchain-based rails for regulated finance.
The project will examine whether SBC, a U.S. dollar-backed token issued by Brale, can be used for institutional settlement while keeping sensitive transaction data private and supporting programmable payments. Visa aims to assess SBC as an additional settlement option alongside its existing stablecoin pilots.
Focus on privacy, speed, and programmability
The proof-of-concept is designed to test how privacy-enabled blockchain infrastructure can fit into regulated financial workflows. Canton’s architecture allows parties to share only the data needed for a transaction, addressing a key concern around public blockchains where transaction information is broadly visible.
By using Canton’s native features, the experiment will simulate real-world payment conditions, including complex payment flows and multi-party transactions. The goal is to measure whether blockchain-based settlement can offer faster processing and more flexible, programmable payment logic without compromising regulatory requirements on data protection and control.
Visa’s growing use of stablecoins
Visa started using stablecoins for settlement in 2021 and has since expanded its pilots across multiple networks. As of April 2026, the company’s stablecoin settlement activity has reached a $7 billion annualized run rate, up 50% from the prior quarter, underscoring rapid growth in real-world usage.
The program now spans nine blockchains, including Arc, Base, Canton, Polygon, Tempo, Avalanche, Ethereum, Solana, and Stellar. These efforts are part of a broader push to modernize payment rails using tokenized assets and interoperable digital networks, with an emphasis on cross-border speed and cost efficiency.
Stablecoin market nears $300 billion supply
The SBC test comes as dollar-pegged stablecoins approach a combined supply of about $300 billion, according to industry data. Tether’s USDT accounts for roughly $188 billion of that total, while Circle’s USDC represents around $76 billion.
These tokens have become core liquidity instruments across centralized exchanges, decentralized finance platforms, and payment networks, and are increasingly seen as infrastructure for global value transfer.
Building a parallel, regulated digital money system
The collaboration between Visa and Brale positions both firms to study how tokenized settlement standards can function in tightly regulated environments. The Canton Network was selected for its focus on privacy, governance, and operational control, features that many public blockchains lack and which have discouraged adoption by regulated financial firms.
In effect, the test points toward a parallel financial system in which tokenized dollars move at internet speed but are wrapped in the compliance frameworks of traditional banking. This structure is designed to support large-scale capital flows into digital assets without abandoning regulatory oversight.
Diverging paths for digital assets
For market participants, the experiment signals that core settlement technology is being validated by major payment networks, often a precursor to a re-pricing of assets that can operate on these new rails.
This emerging infrastructure is likely to deepen the divide between:
- assets designed for open, permissionless finance with minimal gatekeeping, and
- assets and platforms built for integration with regulated, institution-ready networks like Canton.
Attention in the coming weeks is expected to center on projects that show clear paths to compliance and technical compatibility with such frameworks.
Broader institutional shift and Mastercard’s parallel move
The direction is being reinforced by other large payment firms. Mastercard recently announced that it is adding the Canton Network to its own stablecoin settlement pilots, signaling a coordinated effort among global payment handlers to standardize on privacy-preserving, institution-focused blockchain infrastructure.
Industry surveys indicate that nearly 86% of institutional market participants either hold or plan to hold digital assets, with average portfolio allocations projected to rise from about 9% today to more than 18% within three years. This trend is creating deeper liquidity pools and may result in more stable and predictable pricing for assets aligned with regulated digital settlement architectures.
Stablecoins rival card network volumes
Stablecoin transaction volumes have grown to an estimated $33 trillion annually, a level that now competes with major card networks in terms of throughput. Visa’s own $7 billion run rate in stablecoin settlement, rising 50% in a single quarter, underscores how quickly these rails are moving from pilot to meaningful scale.
For traders, the evolving landscape suggests that capital may increasingly favor platforms, tokens, and networks that can plug into institution-friendly systems like Canton. As major payment networks build and standardize these new rails, the assets able to operate on them are being structurally differentiated from those that remain outside the regulated digital finance stack.
Explore how regulated stablecoins are reshaping cross-border settlement in 2026 in our deep dive: learn more.
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