Cross River Bank, a technology infrastructure provider for embedded financial solutions, announced its participation in Visa’s stablecoin settlement pilot, launching this capability in collaboration with Highnote, a platform for card issuing, acquiring, credit, and real-time money movement. This initiative introduces USDC settlement in the United States over the Solana blockchain into a production environment.
Visa’s pilot aims to bring onchain settlement directly into the systems where businesses issue cards, accept payments, and manage funds at scale. The program facilitates faster clearing and new possibilities for continuous settlement, allowing U.
S. issuer and acquirer partners to settle with Visa in USDC, a fully reserved, dollar-backed stablecoin.
Luca Cosentino, Head of Crypto at Cross River, stated, “For stablecoins to realize their full potential they must operate within unified systems. Cross River’s infrastructure is built to bring onchain settlement safely into mainstream financial services. Our participation in the Visa stablecoin settlement pilot and collaboration with Highnote will enable card issuers to settle network activity seven days a week, demonstrating how this innovation can be implemented effectively in real-world environments.”
The implementation unlocks faster funds movement over a blockchain and seven-day settlement availability, which is expected to improve capital efficiency and the economics of card programs without altering the consumer card experience.
John MacIlwaine, CEO of Highnote, commented, “Stablecoin settlement matters when it delivers practical advantages in real payment settings that benefit customers. The future of payment operations is faster, simpler, and always on. Offering this capability at Highnote moves us toward that reality by enabling continuous value movement with more efficient reconciliation. Our unified platform supports this evolution across issuing, acquiring, and money movement, strengthened by the reach of Cross River and Visa.”
Cross River recently launched its stablecoin payments offering, which unifies fiat and stablecoin flows through a single, interoperable system. The Highnote program specifically focuses on stablecoin settlement performance in live payment flows, assessing settlement speed, reconciliation accuracy, and overall operational impact for issuing and acquiring programs powered by Highnote.
This stablecoin settlement capability is being introduced through a structured launch, including bank supervision and defined settlement parameters. For this pilot, USDC settlement occurs on the Solana blockchain within a secure and compliant framework designed to evaluate how stablecoins can support faster settlement cycles and improved treasury management. Services are currently available in limited states.
