Cross River Bank, a provider of financial technology infrastructure, has introduced a new stablecoin settlement capability in collaboration with Highnote, a unified platform for issuing, acquiring, credit, and real-time money movement.
This initiative is part of Visa’s stablecoin settlement pilot program, which integrates USDC settlement over the Solana blockchain into a live production environment. The system aims to accelerate enterprise payment processing and enable continuous settlement opportunities.
The implementation allows US issuer and acquirer partners to settle transactions with Visa in USDC, a fully reserved, dollar-backed stablecoin. This capability provides near-instant funds movement, seven-day settlement availability, and improved capital efficiency for card programs. According to industry data, traditional card settlement cycles can take two to three business days, whereas blockchain-based stablecoin settlement can reduce this to minutes, lowering liquidity risk and operational overhead for financial institutions.
Advancing real-world stablecoin adoption
The pilot program represents a shift from conceptual blockchain solutions to practical deployment in mainstream financial systems. By integrating on-chain settlement directly into existing issuing and acquiring workflows, businesses can maintain established payment processes while benefiting from faster clearing times and automated reconciliation. Highnote’s platform supports these improvements, allowing for continuous value movement and better reporting.
Cross River’s stablecoin payments infrastructure unifies fiat and digital currency flows in a single interoperable system. Preliminary testing indicates that reconciliation accuracy can improve by up to 30% compared with traditional settlement processes, while operational costs associated with liquidity management may decrease by 15–20%. Highnote’s performance metrics in the pilot focus on settlement speed, transaction accuracy, and the impact on treasury operations for participating issuers and acquirers.
The USDC settlement capability is being deployed under strict bank supervision with defined settlement parameters. Transactions occur on the Solana blockchain within a secure, compliant framework designed to evaluate stablecoin utility for faster settlement cycles and better treasury management. This approach enables financial institutions to assess real-world benefits without changing the end-user card experience.
Currently, the service is available in a limited number of US states as part of the pilot program, with plans for broader deployment as regulatory approval and operational testing advance.
