Visa Begins Stablecoin Pilot for Faster Global Payments

Visa Inc., the world’s largest payments company, is taking a major step toward using stablecoins in cross-border transactions. 

On September 30, the company announced at the SWIFT International Banking Operations Seminar (SIBOS) in Frankfurt that it is launching a prefunding pilot through Visa Direct. The aim is to reduce the costs and delays that have long been part of international money transfers.

Today, banks and remittance providers usually need to deposit local currency in advance before sending money abroad. This process ties up large amounts of capital for several days. 

Visa’s new model changes that. Instead of prefunding with cash, institutions can preload Visa Direct with stablecoins. Those digital assets are treated the same way as cash balances, allowing payouts to reach recipients within minutes, while still being converted to their local currency.

The company said its goal is simple. It wants to “reduce friction, unlock faster access to liquidity, and give financial institutions more flexibility in how they manage global payouts.” Visa believes that this approach could modernize treasury operations and free up capital that is normally locked in outdated systems.

At this stage, the pilot will only be available to selected partners that meet Visa’s requirements. The company confirmed that Circle’s $USDC and $EURC are the first stablecoins to be tested. 

A wider rollout is planned by April 2026, when Visa hopes to expand the program to include more partners and possibly more assets.

Growing Role of Stablecoins in Payments

Stablecoins are digital tokens tied to the value of government currencies such as the U.S. dollar or the euro. They have become increasingly popular among fintech and crypto firms looking for faster ways to move money without relying solely on banks. For Visa, the shift marks a major change in approach.

Not long ago, Visa and Mastercard executives suggested that stablecoins did not pose a serious threat to their networks. They argued that adoption levels were too small to matter. But in recent years, the situation has changed. The demand for digital dollars has grown, and businesses are showing greater interest in using them for international payments.

Earlier in 2025, Visa partnered with Paxos to add support for PayPal USD ($PYUSD) and $USDG. This gave businesses and consumers more options to settle transactions in digital dollars. 

The company now sees stablecoins as part of the future of money movement. In Visa’s view, transferring funds with stablecoins could one day become as easy as sending an email.

Chris Newkirk, Visa’s president of commercial and money movement solutions, summed up the need for change. “Cross-border payments have been stuck in outdated systems for too long. Stablecoins integrated into Visa Direct can transform how money moves worldwide.”

The launch also comes after the U.S. passed the GENIUS Act, the first federal law providing a clear framework for stablecoins. With rules now in place, global payment companies are moving quickly to capture what many see as a trillion-dollar market opportunity. 

Stablecoins are also being promoted as tools for protecting savings in countries with volatile currencies and for cutting the costs of remittances around the world.

Visa Expands Its Stablecoin Strategy

Visa’s new pilot builds on a series of experiments with digital assets. The company has been testing stablecoin use cases across different regions for the past few years. One project with Stripe-owned Bridge created Visa cards linked directly to stablecoin balances. 

This allowed merchants worldwide to accept payments funded by digital assets. In Africa, Visa worked with Yellow Card to explore how stablecoins could improve treasury operations and liquidity management.

The company has also tested settlement flows for card issuers and built the Visa Tokenized Asset Platform, which helps banks run their own pilots for issuing and managing stablecoins. All of these projects point to a broader plan: integrating stablecoins into Visa’s global network in a way that works alongside traditional money systems.

Under the new pilot, banks and money-transfer companies can preload Visa Direct with stablecoins like USDC and EURC. These balances act as settlement funds, meaning institutions don’t need to hold local currency in advance. Transfers that once took days can now be completed in minutes.

Visa has not named all the partners involved but confirmed that Circle’s stablecoins are the first to be tested. The company also left open the possibility of supporting more assets in the future. When asked if it might issue its own stablecoin, a spokesperson replied, “In the stablecoin ecosystem, it’s hard to rule anything out.” 

However, the immediate focus remains on scaling use cases for existing stablecoins, such as card payments, settlement flows, and integrations with banks.

A Visa spokesperson explained the company’s vision: “We’re bringing stablecoins to Visa Direct – our push payments platform, enabling real-time money movement to billions of endpoints. By doing so, we’re creating a world where payments can be settled in stablecoins, unlocking instant, global and programmable payouts.”

Recipients will continue to receive funds in their local currency, ensuring that the process looks familiar to end users. For businesses, though, the new system means faster access to liquidity and more flexibility in how they manage their money across borders.

The broader rollout is expected by April 2026. At that time, Visa hopes to expand the pilot, add new partners, and include more stablecoins as demand develops. 

For now, the pilot is seen as a key step toward showing that stablecoins can operate reliably inside one of the world’s largest payments networks.