Visa Begins Pilot Program For Direct USDC Payments For U.S. Businesses

Visa has launched a new pilot program that will let the company’s U.S. clients and businesses send and receive payments directly in USDC. This might change how businesses and individuals transfer money across borders.

Visa Unveils Direct Stablecoin Payouts Pilot

Speaking at the Web Summit, Visa said that select businesses using its Direct service will now be able to send payouts directly to users’ stablecoin wallets. Companies can fund these payouts in fiat currency. Recipients would have the option to receive their funds in USDC.

This arrangement greatly reduces the duration of time taken for money transfer across borders. This would imply that it allows the settling of payments to take place in a matter of minutes.

The program’s purpose was meant to enable rapid access to money, according to the company’s President of Commercial & Money Movement Solutions, Chris Newkirk.

“Launching stablecoin payouts is about enabling truly universal access to money in minutes – not days – for anyone, anywhere in the world,” he said. “Whether it’s a creator building a digital brand, a business reaching new global markets or a freelancer working across borders, everyone benefits from faster, more flexible money movement.”

This pilot follows previous initiatives exploring stablecoin-powered transactions. At the SIBOS conference earlier this year, the company conducted a test of pre-funded payouts with the help of stablecoins to improve liquidity and speed up the pace of transactions.

Recipients of the new USDC payouts would have to meet the firm’s compliance protocols. This includes KYC and AML standards so that transactions remain secure and traceable. It is expected to come into play in the second half of 2026.

Many companies in the corporate world are looking to use stablecoins for payments. For example, Citigroup and Western Union are working on their own stablecoin systems. Recently, Western Union announced plans to use Solana for settling digital assets.

Visa Builds on Blockchain Strategy

The company has seen over $140 billion in crypto and stablecoin transactions. This includes more than $100 billion in asset purchases.

Earlier this year, the company added new settlement options on the Stellar and Avalanche blockchains. This includes Global Dollar (USDG), PayPal USD (PYUSD), and Euro Coin (EURC). Also, the firm launched the Tokenized Asset Platform. This platform enables partner banks to create and delete stablecoins in test environments.

In previous developments, Fold partnered with Visa to launch the Bitcoin Rewards Credit Card. The new card will enable users to earn Bitcoin for every transaction. This is a practical way to gain crypto while spending.