On Wednesday, Visa announced the launch of a new pilot that leverages dollar-backed stablecoins to pay gig workers.
The pilot lets marketplaces pay recipients in the US directly into their stablecoin wallets, using cryptocurrencies such as Circle’s USDC.
“Launching stablecoin payouts is about enabling truly universal access to money in minutes — not days — for anyone, anywhere in the world,” said Chris Newkirk, Visa’s president of commercial and money movement solutions.
The pilot is powered by the payment company’s Visa Direct product. Visa Direct leverages the company’s vast network of users and businesses to send money to people in 30 minutes or less.
Visa added stablecoin capabilities to the service in September.
Visa’s crypto turn
Visa, which counts over 4 billion account holders and more than 130 million participating merchants, has increasingly turned to crypto-based technologies to enhance its product suite.
In April, the company announced a partnership with stablecoin company Bridge that would let fintech companies issue Visa cards that draw from stablecoin balances. Payment processing giant Stripe acquired Bridge in February for $1.1 billion.
Visa unveiled another partnership in July with Paxos, a stablecoin issuing firm based in New York, that integrated PayPal’s digital dollar token, PYUSD, as well as USDG, a digital dollar created by a consortium of companies, including Robinhood and Kraken.
“We believe that when stablecoins are trusted, scalable and interoperable, they can fundamentally transform how money moves around the world,” Rubail Birwadker, the company’s head of growth products and partnerships, said.
Its archrival, Mastercard, isn’t resting on its laurels, however. Like Visa, it has increasingly embraced crypto and inked partnerships with Ripple, Ondo Finance, Fiserv, and Kraken.
Crypto clarity
Visa and Mastercard’s embrace of crypto and stablecoins comes as the US government, under President Donald Trump, moves to pass legislation that would allow companies to interact with stablecoins and blockchain technology.
In July, lawmakers passed legislation defining which entities may issue stablecoins in the US and under what conditions. It has emboldened traditional financial institutions, fintech players, as well as entrenched payments firms, such as Visa and Mastercard.
Visa has recently changed its internal regulations, helping align blockchain technology and existing payment rails, Vijit Katta, CEO and co-founder of crypto neobank Tria, told DL News in November.
“What we are doing right now was definitely not possible, say, two years ago,” Katta said. “The technical complexities that Visa has allowed has changed the game in terms of how a self-custodial neobank can operate.”
Visa is currently adding partner companies to its stablecoin rollout via Visa Direct.
The company expects the service to become available globally next year.
Liam Kelly is DL News’ Berlin-based DeFi correspondent. Have a tip? Get in touch at [email protected].
