Ripple Joins Velocity in $10 Million Extension, Targeting Payment Back-End Infrastructure

London-based Velocity has secured an additional $10 million, extending its Series A round to a total of $48 million at a $200 million post-money valuation. The round saw participation from Visa Ventures, Circle Ventures, and Ripple. The fresh capital will be used to fund infrastructure that connects stablecoins to existing payment networks, settlement systems, and corporate treasury operations.

This extension follows a $38 million Series A announced in July, which CEO Eric Queathem noted was oversubscribed. Haun Ventures, Translink Capital, and Mirana Ventures also joined the extension round, expanding the investor list beyond typical crypto-native venture backers to include strategic corporate capital from a major card network and a stablecoin issuer.

@velocityxyz_ has raised an additional $10 million, bringing our total Series A funding to $48 million. @Visa, @circle, @Ripple, @HaunVentures, @translink_cap and @mirana are joining us for this extension.
Having some of the largest players across traditional finance and web3… pic.twitter.com/tRirXv5TSg

— Velocity (@velocityxyz_) September 15, 2026

Velocity’s platform allows payment companies and banks to utilize stablecoins for settlement, liquidity, and treasury operations without dismantling their existing systems. This is a deliberate strategic scope: the company is targeting the layer connecting issuers, card networks, acquirers, and merchants, rather than the consumer-facing wallet layer.

Stablecoin circulation has surpassed $300 billion, with usage expanding from crypto-exchange dollar transfers into payments, cross-border transfers, and corporate treasury work—the exact niche Velocity aims to occupy.

The Back-End Layer Nobody Fixed

Queathem’s framing draws directly on his experience at Worldpay, which settles more than $2 trillion in annual payment volume. His diagnosis is that while consumer payments have become faster and more sophisticated over the past 15 years, the underlying machinery has not kept pace.

“All this capital has flowed into payments over the last 15 years, and it’s been 100% focused on how do you create a better experience on the front end for consumers,” Queathem said. “But no one has fixed the back-end layer.”

Why Ripple Participates?

Visa’s involvement is notable precisely because Velocity is not pitching stablecoins as a direct replacement for cards. The company expects blockchain-based money to sit underneath existing payment rails, absorbing more of the funding and settlement work that occurs invisibly to end users.

Visa’s Rubail Birwadker, global head of growth products and strategic partnerships, stated that stablecoins are playing an increasingly important role in reshaping how value moves across the Visa ecosystem. This statement suggests a network attempting to own the migration rather than be disrupted by it.

Velocity\’s Series A funding has reached $48M following a new $10M extension backed by major industry strategics.
Eric @Queathem, CEO of @velocityxyz_, tells @JD_Durkin it\’s \”certainly incredibly validating to have someone like Visa join the cap table as an investor.\” pic.twitter.com/u7hh3AFqVG

— FINTECH.TV (@FINTECHTVglobal) September 15, 2026

Velocity Chief Growth Officer Matt Larson emphasized that this approach does not necessarily lead to a mass switch to stablecoin wallets by consumers. Instead, he expects the funding and settlement flowing around card networks to increasingly shift toward stablecoin rails while the front-end experience remains unchanged.

Queathem’s longer-term bet is more aggressive; he expects every global business to hold some value on-chain within five years. This would create sustained demand for reconciliation and treasury tools that bridge blockchain assets with legacy financial systems.

This is a projection, not yet a confirmed trend, and should be treated as such. However, the investor list indicates that this is not speculative money chasing a narrative. It is a card network and a stablecoin issuer putting capital behind the specific thesis that treasury and settlement infrastructure, rather than retail wallets, is where stablecoin adoption will compound first.

Ripple’s participation fits a broader pattern of the company pushing RLUSD and related infrastructure into institutional credit and treasury products rather than retail-facing crypto rails, reinforcing the same back-end thesis Velocity is selling to its bank and payments-company clients.

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