Visa partners with a Tether co-founder to build onchain banks!

Visa is joining forces with a co-founder of Tether to develop onchain banking infrastructure — a move that signals the payments giant is ready to go beyond card rails and into native blockchain-based financial services. While details remain limited, the pairing of Visa's global merchant network with Tether's stablecoin expertise points toward $USDT-settled banking products built directly on-chain.

The collaboration is notable because it bridges two worlds that have long operated in parallel: traditional card-network infrastructure and crypto-native stablecoin issuance. Onchain banks could allow users to hold, spend, and transfer stablecoins without touching legacy banking plumbing.

For $USDT, deeper integration with a Visa-backed banking layer would further cement its role as the dominant settlement asset in the next generation of financial infrastructure.