What To Know:
- Visa introduced a new pilot at Web Summit that enables businesses to send payouts directly to recipients’ stablecoin wallets via Visa Direct.
- The pilot allows payouts funded in fiat to be received in USD-backed stablecoins like USDC, offering near-instant transfers, improved transparency, and access to funds in markets with limited banking infrastructure.
- Visa plans a broader rollout in 2026 after onboarding select partners, positioning stablecoin payouts as a faster, more flexible payment option for the global digital workforce.
Payment giant Visa announced a new pilot program that will allow businesses to send payouts directly to recipients’ stablecoin wallets. Visa intends to accelerate payments for creators, freelancers, and gig workers through this program. Businesses using Visa Direct can fund payouts in traditional currency, and recipients may choose to receive USD-backed stablecoins such as USDC in their wallets.
Visa’s Stablecoin Pilot Program
The company said the update will make Visa Direct more accessible by providing faster, more reliable access to funds, especially in current market instability or limited banking infrastructure. For many freelancers and creators, waiting several days for a bank transfer can cause unnecessary financial bottlenecks. Visa’s new system is created to shorten that timeline to minutes.
“Launching stablecoin payouts is about enabling truly universal access to money in minutes, not days” said Chris Newkirk, President of Commercial & Money Movement Solutions at Visa. “Whether it’s a creator building a digital brand, a business expanding into new markets, or a freelancer working across borders, everyone benefits from faster and more flexible money movement.”
Research from the Visa 2025 Creator Economy Report sheds light on this demand. The survey discovered that 57% of digital content creators especially value digital payment methods for its on-the-spot access to their earnings. For this large and expanding group of web workers, speed is the critical factor. Visa’s most recent pilot follows its previous stablecoin effort introduced at the SIBOS conference in September, which enabled businesses to pre-fund Visa Direct payouts to their employees using stablecoins. Together, these programs show Visa’s effort to incorporate blockchain-based infrastructure with its existing payment network.
The pilot introduces several practical benefits. Payouts are processed nearly instantly, which allows consumers and freelancers to access earnings without waiting for banking hours or cross-border settlement times.
For businesses, Visa’s infrastructure still handles funding in fiat currency. But, recipients will have the flexibility to hold, spend, or convert stablecoins as they choose. This dual approach will allow companies to operate within existing banking systems and also extend digital payout options to workers worldwide.
The initial launch will involve select partners, with a broader launch expected in the second half of 2026 as client demand increases and regulatory clarity improves. Visa said it is onboarding participants carefully, emphasizing compliance with Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) standards.
The target audience for the pilot spans international businesses, creator platforms, gig economy marketplaces, and fintech companies looking to offer faster and borderless payment solutions. It also opens new options for workers in underbanked regions who lack access to traditional dollar accounts but can maintain digital wallets.
For this feature to work out, recipients must have compatible stablecoin wallets, and converting stablecoins into local currency will depend on regional exchange infrastructure. Regulators are also still defining frameworks for stablecoin control, which may affect how quickly programs like Visa’s can expand.
Rather than replacing banks, Visa appears to be positioning stablecoins as another layer in a global payment system that prizes speed and reach.
Recently, Visa and Stripe joined hands with Fold Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: FLD), a financial services firm with almost 1,500 BTC in the treasury, to introduce a new Bitcoin credit card. The proposed Fold Bitcoin Credit Card will render earning Bitcoin by making daily purchases available to current and new users.
Also Read: Brazil’s Central Bank Bans Algorithmic Stablecoins, Orders Immediate Halt to Trading
