Visa moves stablecoin prefunding into commercial use

Visa has moved its Visa Direct stablecoin money movement service from pilot programmes to commercial deployment. Inyo Global is the first provider to put the stablecoin prefunding option into production for eligible Visa Direct clients and partners.

The rollout focuses on cross-border payouts through Visa Direct using USDC for near real-time prefunding. Inyo, which provides payments infrastructure to money transmitters, fintechs, banks and payment businesses, has added the feature to its platform.

The move marks a commercial step in Visa's broader effort to bring stablecoin-based settlement tools into day-to-day payments operations. Over the past year, it has worked with clients and partners on how stablecoins could support account funding and cross-border money movement.

Businesses using Inyo's platform can choose to prefund cross-border payouts through Visa Direct with USDC instead of relying solely on traditional funding windows. The option is aimed at businesses seeking more flexible just-in-time funding for international payment flows.

Inyo's platform provides a single connection for customer onboarding, fraud and compliance management, payment acceptance, and domestic and international payouts. The service supports payouts to more than 180 countries through Visa Direct.

From pilot stage

Visa introduced stablecoin prefunding and stablecoin payout pilot programmes through Visa Direct in 2025. The pilots were designed to test stablecoins for cross-border funding, liquidity management, and international money movement for eligible clients.

The latest announcement indicates that Visa now considers the technology ready for live commercial use, at least for selected customers and markets. Availability still depends on eligibility and geography.

Stablecoins have drawn growing interest from payments groups because they are designed to maintain a steady value, typically by being linked to a fiat currency, while using blockchain-based rails. In cross-border payments, supporters say they can widen funding windows and reduce delays caused by traditional banking cut-off times.

For Visa, the commercial deployment also advances a broader strategy of linking existing card and payment infrastructure with blockchain-based systems. Rather than replacing established rails, the model in this rollout uses stablecoins as a funding mechanism within Visa Direct's existing money movement framework.

That approach may appeal to financial institutions and payment companies that want access to digital asset-based settlement tools without rebuilding their payout operations from scratch. Firms already connected to Inyo's platform can add the prefunding option through the same integration using its existing application programming interfaces.

Vira Platonova, Global Head of Visa Direct at Visa, described the shift as a sign that stablecoin work is moving beyond experimentation. "The next chapter for stablecoins is adoption," she said.

"Over the last several years, we've worked with several partners and clients to explore how these technologies can improve money movement. We're now seeing those efforts translate into live implementations, helping businesses access more flexible and efficient ways to fund and move money globally through Visa Direct, starting with Inyo Global as our first enabler," Platonova said.

Partner role

Inyo said the integration is intended to give its customers another way to fund payouts at any time of day. Its clients include money transmitters, fintech groups, and payment companies that often need to manage liquidity across multiple jurisdictions.

Robson Dantas said the change was designed around customer use rather than as a separate digital asset product line. "Innovation in money movement is ultimately about creating a better experience for customers, and that's exactly our focus at Inyo," said Robson Dantas, Chief Product and Technology Officer and Co-Founder of Inyo Global.

"By integrating Visa Direct's stablecoin-enabled prefunding into the Inyo platform, we're giving the money transmitters, fintechs and payment companies we serve a new way to fund their payouts, one that is available around the clock and runs through the same Inyo APIs they already use," Dantas said.

The launch comes as payment companies, banks and technology groups test practical uses for stablecoins beyond cryptocurrency trading. One of the sector's main questions has been whether large-scale payment networks would put such tools into production for business customers rather than keeping them in limited trials.

Visa's decision to begin with Inyo as the first enabler suggests a partner-led rollout model, with access provided through processors and infrastructure providers rather than directly to every client. It is continuing to work with clients and partners on additional money movement uses around the world.

The initial production deployment makes stablecoin-powered prefunding available to businesses running cross-border payments through Visa Direct.