Visa Inc. announced, at the Web Summit in Lisbon, Portugal, that it has begun testing a new feature within its Visa Direct platform.
This pilot program enables U.S.-based businesses to fund payouts in traditional fiat currency (USD), while allowing recipients—such as freelancers, gig workers, creators, and influencers—to receive funds directly in USD Coin (USDC), the dollar-pegged stablecoin issued by Circle Internet Financial.
The initiative aims to accelerate cross-border payments, reducing settlement times from days to minutes, and targets users in emerging markets where traditional banking can be slow or costly.
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Businesses initiate payments via Visa Direct, which operates in 195 countries. The system converts the fiat payout to USDC on the backend and delivers it straight to the recipient’s compatible crypto wallet. Recipients must comply with Visa’s KYC/AML protocols to access funds.
Target Users: Primarily designed for the gig economy, including platform workers on sites like Upwork or content creators on social media. It addresses pain points like high fees, currency conversion delays, and limited banking access in regions like Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia.
Transactions are settled on blockchain for transparency and auditability, leveraging USDC’s reserves backed by short-term U.S. Treasuries and cash. Visa Direct already handles over 8.5 billion push payments annually, and this builds on earlier 2025 tests for stablecoin pre-funding in treasury operations.
Currently limited to select U.S. partners; a broader global rollout is planned for the second half of 2026, pending regulatory approvals and successful testing. No immediate plans for other stablecoins like USDT or PYUSD were mentioned, though the program isn’t explicitly exclusive to USDC.
This move signals Visa’s deepening integration of blockchain into mainstream finance, positioning the company as a bridge between legacy systems and crypto infrastructure. Stablecoins like USDC already process billions in daily volume, but Visa’s involvement could drive mass adoption by embedding them into everyday payouts.
As Mark Nelsen, Visa’s head of commercial and money movement solutions, noted: “This is about enabling truly universal access to money in minutes—not days—for anyone, anywhere.”
It also reflects growing corporate demand for hybrid payment rails, following similar pilots by PayPal and Stripe. Critics in the crypto space argue it’s “fiat clinging to blockchain” rather than true decentralization, but supporters see it as validation.
The world’s largest payment network processing $15 trillion annually is effectively going on-chain. Early reactions on X (formerly Twitter) highlight excitement around faster global liquidity, with posts calling it “history in real time” and a “game-changer for the gig economy.”
By enabling U.S. businesses to fund payments in fiat USD via Visa Direct while allowing recipients—like freelancers, creators, and gig workers—to receive funds directly in USDC, the program addresses longstanding inefficiencies in global payments.
This pilot could democratize access to fast, low-cost payments, particularly in the $1.5 trillion gig economy and $800 billion remittances market. Traditional cross-border transfers often incur 1–3% fees and take 1–5 days, but USDC settlements occur in minutes with near-zero on-chain costs beyond minimal gas fees.
For unbanked or underbanked populations—estimated at over 1 billion globally, concentrated in emerging markets like Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia—this means “universal access to money in minutes,” as Visa’s Chris Newkirk described it.
Gig workers on platforms like Upwork or influencers on social media could see immediate cash flow improvements, potentially boosting economic participation in regions with volatile local currencies.On a macro level, it may accelerate stablecoin adoption, with USDC’s daily volume already exceeding $10 billion.
Visa’s involvement could inject billions more into on-chain liquidity, fostering programmable finance and even stablecoin-based lending in the $40 trillion global credit market. However, it risks exacerbating wealth gaps if crypto wallets and KYC barriers limit uptake to tech-savvy users.
If successful, this could standardize stablecoin payouts, potentially reshaping remittances a $800B+ market and challenging incumbents like Western Union. For now, it’s a controlled test.