stable coins
By Jean-Luc Maracon
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How Credit Coop Actually Works. The onchain model isn't your typical DeFi setup. It doesn't ask borrowers to post liquid crypto as…
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The Risks Visa Won't Fully Spell Out. Visa itself flags some caution. The $2.5 billion figure is cumulative settlement volume, not…
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The Bigger Play for Visa. Still, the strategic logic is pretty clear. Visa is using its own network and settlement data —…
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Visa moved fast. On September 8, the payments giant announced a $2.5 billion onchain lending push built around Credit Coop, a credit protocol designed to plug a very specific…
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The core problem isn't complicated, but it's real. Stablecoin card programs run on two different clocks. Visa wants its settlement money on one schedule.
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Central to all of this is something called the Spigot contract. It's basically a programmable lockbox that controls how incoming cash gets allocated. Interest gets serviced first.
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Since 2023, Credit Coop has financed over $2.5 billion in cumulative settlement volume. No defaults so far.
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Visa itself flags some caution. The $2.5 billion figure is cumulative settlement volume, not current principal outstanding or capital actively at risk.
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The Spigot contract isn't bulletproof either. It depends on both software and human elements, and Visa and Credit Coop haven't disclosed much about the legal protections…
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Read also: Coinbase and Moov Revolutionize Payments for 1,000+ Community Banks with Stablecoin Infrastructure
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There's also the methodology question. Visa claims borrowing costs fell by up to 30%, but there's no facility-level rate data or breakdown of how that figure was calculated.
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And Rain's $2 billion share of the total raises its own flag. Concentrated reliance on one large participant is fine when things go well. It's less fine when they don't.
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Still, the strategic logic is pretty clear. Visa is using its own network and settlement data — assets no DeFi protocol can replicate — as the underwriting backbone.
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Whether that works long-term depends heavily on what's actually inside those undisclosed facility contracts. Visa's network data is valuable for sizing and verification.
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See also: Bitcoin Plummets Below $77,000 as Treasury Yields Surge to 5.353%
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