During the Web Summit in Lisbon 2025, Visa announced a historic breakthrough for digital payments: the launch of a pilot project that allows platforms and companies to send payments directly to recipients’ wallets in stablecoin.
In particular, during a dinner on November 11, Visa provided a preview of the project to the few invited journalists.
The new feature, integrated into Visa Direct, will allow users of the service to fund payments in fiat currency, while recipients can choose to receive a percentage of their funds in stablecoins pegged to the US dollar, such as USDC.
For now, the supported stablecoin will be USDC because it is the most regulated, but in the future, other stablecoins may be supported.
As explained by Tim Moncrieff, global head of strategic initiatives at Visa:
“We want to ensure that everything we support is regulated.”
The goal is to expand the reach of global payments by providing faster, more transparent, and inclusive access to those working in the digital economy — from creators to freelancers, and even workers in emerging markets.
Visa: universal access to money in minutes with stablecoins
«Launching stablecoin payments means enabling truly universal access to money in minutes — not days — for anyone, anywhere in the world», stated Chris Newkirk, President of Visa’s Commercial & Money Movement Solutions division.
According to the company, the ability to receive nearly instant compensation in stablecoins will drastically reduce waiting times in international payments, eliminating traditional banking barriers and offering recipients a stable value in digital dollars.
The funds will always be sent by Visa in fiat currency, but the recipient can choose — even just for a portion and the percentage can vary from 1% to 100% — to receive them in stablecoins, which will be deposited into their own external wallet (Coinbase or other compatible platforms).
Visa will not directly manage wallets nor will it custody cryptocurrencies, limiting itself to providing the infrastructure to connect the traditional financial world with the blockchain.
Visa: stablecoins as a Bridge Between Traditional Finance and Web3
Visa has been following the evolution of stablecoins since 2020 and, after years of experimentation, believes that today the regulatory framework is finally solid thanks to new global regulations — such as the Genius Act in the United States — which clarify the requirements regarding KYC and anti-money laundering.
This clarity has paved the way for the initiative announced in Lisbon, which fits into the broader vision of Visa Direct, the instant payment platform that today handles over 10 billion dollars a year in real-time transfers.
Creators and Freelancers: Faster Payments, More Value
The pilot is also designed to meet the needs of the creator economy.
According to the Visa 2025 Creator Economy Report conducted in collaboration with Monetized, 57% of digital creators consider the speed of access to funds as the main factor in choosing a payment method.
With the new feature, creators, artists, and musicians will be able to receive instant payments in stablecoin, bypassing delays and costs associated with intermediaries or traditional payment platforms.
As Mark Nelsen from Visa reminded us:
«Content creators, artists, and musicians lose a significant portion of their earnings due to intermediaries. Web3 and blockchain-based payment platforms can change this scenario — and that’s where the future is headed.»
Emerging Markets: An Alternative to the Lack of Banks
The potential impact is enormous even in underbanked countries like Argentina, Brazil, or Turkey, where access to dollar accounts is limited and inflation rapidly erodes purchasing power.
Visa estimates that over one billion people worldwide do not have a bank account, but could still send and receive money via stablecoins, benefiting from a stable value and the opportunity to participate in the digital economy.
The focus of the stablecoin pilot is not primarily the United States, but countries with a strong need to “include” underbanked individuals, such as Argentina, Turkey, and Brazil.
“Stablecoins can open access to financial services for those living in regions with limited banking coverage or where US dollar accounts are not available. Every transaction is transparently recorded on the blockchain, ensuring traceability, compliance, and confirmation of receipt,” explained another Visa spokesperson during the dinner.
Regulation and Global Rollout
The pilot will initially launch in the United States, and then expand globally in the second half of 2026. Visa has already begun the selection of interested partners and platforms and invites businesses to apply for the upcoming rounds of participation.
In parallel, the company continues to collaborate with banks and institutions to integrate stablecoins into regulated and secure environments, and has stated that approximately 60% of the code for the new infrastructure has been developed by artificial intelligence agents — a figure that reflects Visa’s commitment to combining blockchain and AI for the next generation of digital payments.
Stablecoin and the Dollar: An Evolving Relationship
During the dinner, the macroeconomic impact of stablecoins on the dominance of the US dollar was also discussed.
Who knows if stablecoins in the long term will reduce the global dependence on the dollar, making value flows more distributed and resilient.
Not necessarily a threat, but a physiological evolution of global finance, where the balance between fiat and digital assets could become more dynamic and multilateral.
Visa towards a hybrid infrastructure with stablecoins
With this announcement, Visa confirms its position as a bridge between the fiat world and the digital realm, bringing stablecoins from the perimeter of exchanges to the heart of everyday payments.
The company does not intend to replace banks or wallet providers, but rather offer the network of trust and interoperability necessary for stablecoins to become a true global means of payment.
«Payments in stablecoins are not about speculation, but about inclusion, accessibility, and speed,»
With clearer regulation, growing demand in emerging markets, and an increasingly international creator economy, 2026 could be the year when stablecoins stop being “crypto” and simply become “money”.
Visa Tokenized Asset Platform
Visa’s new strategy is not limited to stablecoin payouts for creators and freelancers, but is based on deeper infrastructures such as the Visa Tokenized Asset Platform (VTAP), which allows financial institutions to issue and manage fiat-backed tokens on blockchain networks.
According to the documentation, VTAP “provides the tools and infrastructure for banks to tokenize fiat currencies on blockchain networks.”
Among the main features are easy-to-integrate APIs, programmability through smart contracts, multi-currency and multichain interoperability, and the ability to operate in sandbox environments before commercial rollout.
This means that the announcement at the Web Summit should actually be seen as part of a broader plan: Visa not only enables the recipient to choose stablecoins as a payment method, but is also offering banks (and traditional operators) a bridge to the blockchain world, making new models of payment, liquidity, and transparency possible.