Today in crypto, Visa added Polygon and Base to its stablecoin settlement pilot that now includes nine blockchains, MoonPay acquired Israel-based crypto security infrastructure provider Sodot in a $100 million push into institutional crypto, and Aptos said its recently launched privacy coin seeks to solve the trade-off between user safety and transparency.

Visa adds Polygon, Base support as stablecoin settlement run rate hits $7B

Global payments giant Visa has expanded its stablecoin settlement pilot to include Polygon and four other blockchain networks, signaling continued experimentation with crypto-based payment infrastructure.

The pilot, launched by Visa in 2023, allows partners to settle transactions using stablecoins rather than traditional banking rails. Newly supported networks include Polygon, Base, the Canton Network, Arc and Tempo. They join existing supported chains such as Ethereum, Solana, Stellar and Avalanche.

The expansion comes as the program has reached an annualized settlement run rate of roughly $7 billion, growing about 50% quarter over quarter, according to Visa. Despite that growth, volume remains small compared to the company’s core payments business.

The initiative is designed to evaluate whether stablecoins can offer faster settlement, round-the-clock availability and efficiencies in cross-border payments.

Key stablecoin statistics and average cost savings relative to traditional payments. Source: Bessemer Venture Partners

MoonPay buys crypto security firm Sodot in $100 million push into institutional crypto

Crypto payments platform MoonPay is launching an institutional unit after acquiring Sodot, an Israeli crypto security infrastructure provider.

MoonPay on Wednesday announced the acquisition of Sodot, using Sodot’s key management technology as the core infrastructure layer of its new business serving financial institutions, asset managers, trading firms and exchanges entering digital asset markets.

"We built MoonPay to be the world's leading crypto payments network,” MoonPay co-founder and CEO Ivan Soto-Wright said in a press release, adding that its institutional arm is the next stage for the company.

According to Bloomberg, the deal closed in April in an all-stock transaction valued at around $100 million. MoonPay did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comment to confirm the deal’s details.

The move expands MoonPay’s business beyond retail crypto payments and reflects rising demand from traditional finance companies for secure wallet and custody infrastructure as they expand into digital assets.

The unit will be led by Caroline Pham, who joined MoonPay as its chief legal officer and chief administrative officer in December after serving as acting chair of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission before joining MoonPay in late 2025.

Source: MoonPay

Aptos says its new privacy coin seeks to fix one of crypto’s biggest trade-offs

Aptos Labs founding engineer Sherry Xiao said Aptos’ newly introduced privacy coin could fix a long-standing trade-off between protecting user privacy and preserving transparency for compliance.

“Confidential APT” launched on the Aptos mainnet on Friday after a governance proposal to integrate the privacy feature passed in a near-unanimous vote. It uses zero-knowledge proofs to conceal token balances and transfer amounts while still enabling transactions to be verified.

Source: Aptos

While blockchains offer a level of transparency that most traditional ledgers do not, the lack of privacy has slowed individual and enterprise adoption due to the risk of exposing financially sensitive information.

In an interview with Cointelegraph, Xiao said Confidential APT — which is pegged 1:1 to Aptos (APT) — reduces the risks of users being subjected to wallet profiling or targeted scams:

“Portfolio sniping, social pressure from visible holdings, personal safety — these are pain points people feel today.”

Xiao said the Confidential APT token solves an active problem in the workplace, too.

“If a company runs payroll on-chain with visible amounts, every employee's salary is permanently public — to coworkers, competitors, recruiters, everyone,” she said.

“Same with treasury moves, settlement flows, trading strategies,” Xiao said, noting that blockchain’s lack of privacy is an “operational dealbreaker” for many businesses.

However, “Confidential balances solve that directly,” Xiao said.