Visa, the grandmaster of plastic money, decides to jazz up its aging, snail-paced cross-border payment system.
Their secret weapon? Stablecoins, specifically Circle’s USDC and EURC.
Outdated paperwork
Announced with all the fanfare of a cosmic breakthrough at SIBOS 2025, Visa is piloting a plan that lets banks and financial institutions pre-fund international payments with stablecoins, making payouts nearly instantaneous.
The mission? To drag treasury operations into the 21st century without leaving finance pros clutching outdated paperwork.
Chris Newkirk, the man in charge of commercial and money movement solutions at Visa, laid it out bluntly, cross-border payments have been marooned in the Stone Age for far too long.
His vision is simple, cut down the capital banks must park in advance, slash exposure to currency swings, and transform treasury operations into smooth-running, near-real-time engines.
Visa Direct is the star player in this drama, treating these stablecoins like cold, hard cash for triggering payments that zip across the globe faster than your last pizza delivery.
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An exclusive party
The mechanics? Banks, remittance services, and other financial players can now stash stablecoins instead of hoarding fiat across multiple money corridors.
This switch is a liquidity upgrade, unlocking working capital, making cash flows more predictable, even on those cursed off-hours and weekends when traditional systems play dead.
So far, Visa reports a modest $225 million in stablecoin settlement volume, peanuts compared to their annual $16 trillion.
This pilot is an exclusive party limited to partners who meet Visa’s secret handshake criteria, but the party might open wider in 2026.
Stablecoin infrastructure
On the other hand, the financial neighborhood isn’t standing still. A day before Visa’s announcement, Swift teamed up with Ethereum developer Consensys and 30+ institutions to build a blockchain settlement platform, promising 24/7 real-time global payments.
And the stablecoin craze is catching fire, RedotPay just sprinted into unicorn territory after a $47 million cash injection from Coinbase Ventures and other big backers.
Bastion, a stablecoin infrastructure startup, also scored $14.6 million funding.
Numbers aside, Visa’s stablecoin pilot still signals a big leap toward instant, efficient cross-border payments that might finally unshackle global finance from the shackles of old-school bureaucracy.
The race is on, and the future of money looks curiously digital, stable, and lightning-fast.
Disclosure:This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.
Kriptoworld.com accepts no liability for any errors in the articles or for any financial loss resulting from incorrect information.
Cryptocurrency and Web3 expert, founder of Kriptoworld
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With years of experience covering the blockchain space, András delivers insightful reporting on DeFi, tokenization, altcoins, and crypto regulations shaping the digital economy.
📅 Published: October 1, 2025 • 🕓 Last updated: October 1, 2025
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