Stablecoin startups challenge Visa's payments dominance, but the incumbent has deep advantages and is not standing still

Augustus, a stablecoin-first bank led by a 25-year-old Thiel fellow, raised $40 million and received a national bank charter from the OCC; MoonPay acquired Dflow, a Solana blockchain trading platform, in an all-stock deal valued at $100 million.

Visa's fees are around 12 basis points, and the company has lock-in through a five-sided network offering global reach and fraud resolution. Stablecoin challengers can lower transaction fees to well below 1 basis point using programmable money and blockchain rails.

Visa's crypto executive Cuy Sheffield indicated the company could integrate stablecoins for instant on-chain merchant settlement, positioning Visa as an orchestrator of stablecoins and agentic commerce rather than a casualty of the shift.