In brief
- Visa has partnered with BVNK to enable stablecoin pre-funding and payouts on Visa Direct in select markets.
- The integration allows businesses to send payouts directly to recipients’ stablecoin wallets, extending Visa’s earlier stablecoin payout pilots.
- Experts say stablecoin payouts reduce settlement delays, but the long-term impact will depend on how quickly local monetary infrastructure adapts under new regulatory frameworks.
Payments giant Visa has partnered with London-based stablecoin infrastructure provider BVNK to enable stablecoin-funded payouts across Visa Direct, expanding the network’s payment options beyond traditional fiat rails.
Under the partnership, BVNK will power stablecoin payments for Visa Direct, Visa’s $1.7 trillion money-movement platform, according to a press release issued Wednesday.
The integration will allow select business customers to pre-fund payouts using stablecoins and send funds directly to recipients’ stablecoin wallets.
BVNK will support Visa Direct’s stablecoin services in approved markets, with the rollout initially focusing on regions with strong demand for digital asset payments, with further expansion planned based on customer needs and regulatory approval.
“Stablecoins are an exciting opportunity for global payments,” Mark Nelsen, Visa’s global head of product for commercial and money movement solutions, said in the press release, citing their ability to operate “during weekends, holidays, and when banks are closed.”
Decrypt has reached out to Visa and BVNK for further comment.
“Stablecoin payouts remove the biggest operational bottleneck in global payment, which is time,” Jayanand Sagar, co-founder of Hyperbola Network, told Decrypt. “When value can move instantly, 24/7, the traditional advantage of banking systems shifts away from speed and efficiency toward compliance and trust.”
The real question, he said, “isn’t whether stablecoins will disrupt banking, but whether local monetary infrastructure can adapt fast enough to adapt to new rails.”
“Payment networks will influence which stablecoins gain distribution, but they won’t dictate winners alone,” Stable CEO Brian Mehler said in a statement shared with Decrypt. He argued that the determining factor will be “whether the underlying infrastructure can deliver predictable fees, deterministic settlement, and the operational reliability institutions need.”
Building on a strategic relationship
The announcement marks the next phase of the strategic relationship between the two companies. Last May, Visa’s venture arm invested an undisclosed amount in BVNK following the firm’s $50 million Series B round.
Visa also began piloting stablecoin wallet payouts last November, allowing fiat-denominated payments to settle in dollar-pegged stablecoins such as Circle’s USDC, with wider access expected in the second half of 2026 pending local regulations.
The collaboration comes as payment giants navigate new regulatory frameworks, including the GENIUS Act, which establishes federal standards for payment stablecoins in the U.S..
“While payment giants act as ‘kingmakers’ by granting tokens like USDC or PYUSD instant global utility, their power is now tethered to the federal standards of the GENIUS Act, which legally restricts them to supporting only strictly regulated ‘payment stablecoins,'” Jimmy Xue, COO & Co-founder at Axis, told Decrypt.
He added that, “Their influence has shifted from simply picking winners to defining the ‘invisible plumbing’ of global finance, where a token’s brand is less important to consumers than the institutional trust and fraud protections the network provides.”
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