Visa has announced the launch of a prefund pilot for the use of stablecoin for cross-border payments.
By Godfrey Benjamin
Editor Julia Sakovich
Updated
2 mins read
Global payments company Visa Inc. has kick-started a process that would allow it to utilize stablecoins for cross-border remittances. It announced the new development on Sept. 30, citing that the prefunding pilot for the initiative will be rolled out soon through Visa Direct. At the core of this pivot is the speed and low transaction fees that come with these digital assets tied to a fiat currency.
Instead of pre-depositing cash in local accounts, Visa is offering businesses a new way to fund international payments with stablecoins.
During the annual SWIFT International Banking Operations Seminar (SIBOS), which was held in Frankfurt, Visa announced its plans to launch a stablecoin prefunding pilot through Visa Direct. It is very optimistic that this move will present businesses with a novel approach towards the transfer of funds globally.
Moreover, it has the capacity to unlock liquidity while also modernizing treasury operations for an economy that is keen on digitization. The financial firm acknowledged how the Traditional Finance (TradFi) landscape has been constrained by slow and costly systems that end up tying capital in advance. Going forward, Visa believes that stablecoin is the solution to overcoming this situation.
The goal is simple. It is to “reduce friction, unlock faster access to liquidity, and give financial institutions more flexibility in how they manage global payouts.” For the pilot, Visa has drawn out certain criteria and is currently working with a few partners that meet them. However, it plans to expand the pilot program by 2026 to include more partners.
Stablecoins are systematically gaining massive traction in the finance space. This has become the situation ever since fintech and crypto companies began to seek faster ways to move money without relying only on banks. Moreso, Visa’s interest in stablecoins has peaked in recent times.
Together with Mastercard executives, Visa once denied any imminent threat from the fiat-pegged cryptocurrencies during one of their earnings calls. They stated that the use of stablecoins is still insufficient or negligible to challenge their market dominance.
Just before the end of the first half of 2025, this American tech giant added new support for USDG and PayPal USD (PYUSD) through a partnership with Paxos. Their goal was to offer more ways to settle transactions using digital dollars.
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Benjamin Godfrey is a blockchain enthusiast and journalist who relishes writing about the real life applications of blockchain technology and innovations to drive general acceptance and worldwide integration of the emerging technology. His desire to educate people about cryptocurrencies inspires his contributions to renowned blockchain media and sites.
