While traditional banking systems take days to process international payments, Visa is revolutionizing cross-border transactions through stablecoins that work around the clock. The payment giant has quietly positioned itself as a major player in the digital currency space, expanding its stablecoin settlement capabilities across Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
Visa’s partnership with Yellow Card, a leading African fintech company, demonstrates its commitment to exploring stablecoin use cases across diverse markets. This collaboration enables USD cross-border transactions via blockchain technology, reducing settlement costs while improving liquidity management. Unlike traditional banking that closes on weekends, Visa’s stablecoin settlements operate 365 days a year, including holidays.
Visa’s stablecoin settlements operate 365 days a year, revolutionizing cross-border payments that never sleep unlike traditional banking systems.
The numbers tell an impressive story. Since 2023, Visa has settled over $225 million in stablecoin volume through participating clients. This growing adoption reflects businesses’ hunger for faster, more efficient payment solutions.
At SIBOS 2025, Visa disclosed its Direct stablecoin prefunding pilot, allowing businesses to use stablecoins instead of traditional fiat currency to cover payouts. This innovation frees up capital by treating stablecoin funds as “money in the bank” while recipients still receive payments in their local currency. Think of it as having a universal translator for money that speaks every language. The predictable settlement layer helps stabilize treasury operations for participating businesses.
Visa’s settlement platform has expanded to support multiple USD-backed stablecoins, two new blockchains, and even euro-backed stablecoin EURC. This diversification gives clients more flexibility and choice when using digital currencies for transactions. The integration leverages message oriented middleware to facilitate seamless communication between disparate financial systems, significantly enhancing data exchange speeds.
The stablecoin lending market shows remarkable growth, with $51.7 billion borrowed in August 2025 alone. Since January 2020, total lending volume has exceeded $670 billion across 427,000 loans. After declining from 2022 to early 2024, stablecoin lending activity has recovered to new heights.
Visa encourages banks and fintechs to develop thorough stablecoin strategies for efficient cross-border money movement. The company offers solutions for integrating stablecoins into digital wallets and payment features, including stablecoin-linked cards that work across Visa’s extensive merchant network. Visa’s global reach enables these innovations to scale across 190+ countries and territories through its secure payment infrastructure.
Through strategic partnerships and innovative pilots, Visa is methodically building the infrastructure that could define the future of digital payments.
