Visa is taking another bold step in reshaping global money movement by introducing a stablecoin prefunding pilot through Visa Direct, its real-time payments network connecting over 11 billion eligible endpoints. The new capability enables businesses to fund cross-border transactions using stablecoins instead of traditional fiat, offering a faster, more efficient, and liquid alternative for treasury operations. The pilot underscores Visa’s ongoing push to merge blockchain innovation with its trusted global payments infrastructure.
A Long-Overdue Upgrade for Cross-Border Payments
For decades, international payments have relied on slow, costly systems that lock up capital and delay settlements. Through this pilot, Visa aims to modernize how businesses move funds globally, freeing liquidity while streamlining operations for a digital-first economy. Chris Newkirk, President of Commercial & Money Movement Solutions at Visa, emphasized that “cross-border payments have been stuck in outdated systems for far too long,” noting that Visa’s new approach “lays the groundwork for money to move instantly across the world, giving businesses more choice in how they pay.”
How the Stablecoin Prefunding Model Works
The stablecoin prefunding model allows participating institutions to send stablecoins to Visa as collateral for outgoing payments, effectively treating these digital assets as “money in the bank.” This approach reduces the need for large fiat pre-funding reserves, minimizing idle capital while ensuring immediate payout readiness. Visa says the pilot targets banks, remittance providers, and financial institutions that face liquidity bottlenecks in managing global settlements.
Driving Efficiency and Liquidity
By leveraging blockchain’s speed and transparency, Visa’s pilot seeks to eliminate key inefficiencies in international treasury management. Stablecoins, typically pegged to fiat currencies, offer a consistent settlement layer that shields institutions from currency volatility and minimizes reconciliation delays. The result is faster liquidity rotation, lower costs, and a more predictable funding process—critical for businesses operating across multiple jurisdictions and currencies.
Transforming Treasury Operations
Visa’s stablecoin integration also addresses one of the industry’s longest-standing challenges: balancing liquidity with flexibility. Through prefunding in stablecoins, companies can increase transaction frequency without proportional increases in cost or capital exposure. For financial institutions, this means a dynamic, on-demand liquidity model rather than one constrained by time zones or clearinghouse schedules.
Pilot Scope and Expansion Plans
The pilot is currently available to select partners that meet Visa’s eligibility criteria, with expansion plans scheduled for 2026. Participants will collaborate with Visa to test performance, compliance, and interoperability within the global payment ecosystem. This effort builds on Visa’s broader commitment to integrating blockchain technology into mainstream financial systems, following previous initiatives around settlement using USD Coin (USDC) and cross-border digital currency trials.
Setting a New Standard for Global Money Movement
With Visa Direct’s scale—spanning billions of cards, accounts, and wallets—the introduction of stablecoin prefunding could set a new benchmark for cross-border money movement. The initiative represents not just an operational upgrade but a philosophical shift toward programmable finance, where liquidity and payments become as fast and flexible as data. By combining blockchain programmability with Visa’s institutional trust and reach, the company is positioning itself at the intersection of traditional finance and the emerging digital economy.
As Visa continues its stablecoin experiments, the firm reaffirms its focus on providing secure, reliable, and inclusive payment options that meet the evolving needs of global businesses. The company’s latest innovation signals a future where digital assets play an integral role in how institutions manage cash flow and liquidity worldwide. In doing so, Visa is not just speeding up payments—it is redefining what modern treasury infrastructure looks like in the age of digital money.