The Monad Foundation announced on Tuesday that its Layer 1 blockchain is now a live settlement option within Visa’s stablecoin program, though Visa has not yet published its own confirmation. The release cites Dan Roesbery, Visa’s vice president of global onchain partnerships and go-to-market, who stated that the addition "expands the options available to our partners." This move joins a growing list of supported networks, including Avalanche, Ethereum, Solana, Stellar, Arc, Base, Canton, Polygon, and Tempo, which Visa added in April. While the announcement does not name specific participating banks or acquirers, it confirms that issuers can now settle transactions through this new infrastructure without waiting for traditional banking hours.
Technical Integration and Scale
Monad’s compatibility with the Ethereum Virtual Machine means that card issuers whose custody and compliance systems already work with Ethereum can connect to the network without building new tools. The foundation reports that the network processes 10,000 transactions per second, produces a block every 400 milliseconds, and reaches finality in 800 milliseconds using more than 200 independently operated validators. These specifications allow for continuous settlement on weekends and holidays, a clear advantage over the five-business-day schedule of traditional card clearing. I find the scale figures particularly striking; Visa reported an annualized settlement run rate of $25 billion as of September 2026, up roughly 10x from a year earlier. CEO Ryan McInerney confirmed these numbers on the October 27 earnings call, noting that more than 225 stablecoin-linked card programs are now live globally. However, there is a discrepancy in the data: one report cited a $20 billion run rate with a 15x increase, while another stated $25 billion with a 10x rise, so I rely on the figure directly attributed to McInerney.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Transactions per second | 10,000 |
| Block time | 400 ms |
| Finality | 800 ms |
| Validators | 200+ |
Privacy Features and Future Outlook
The most significant upcoming development is Monad’s Private Settlement feature, which is not live yet but expected to reach Visa partners in the coming months. This tool keeps commercially sensitive payment details hidden from the public ledger while still allowing auditors and regulators to view them. Keone Hon, co-founder and general manager of the Monad Foundation, argued that "the next phase will be defined by whether institutions can keep sensitive flows confidential without leaving open networks." This approach contrasts with Visa’s earlier pitch for Canton, which was described as "built with configurable privacy for regulated capital markets." By integrating privacy directly into the base layer, Monad aims to let private transactions use the same liquidity as public ones without slowing down settlement. I believe this direct integration is the strongest part of the proposal because it avoids the complexity of separate privacy layers. The lack of named stablecoins in the initial release remains a gap, but the technical readiness and existing volume suggest a solid foundation for broader adoption.
