Visa Taps BVNK for Stablecoin Payouts After Months of Investing
Companies can now fund Visa Direct using stablecoins instead of just fiat, plus send payouts directly to digital wallets in stablecoins.
Quick overview
- Visa is launching stablecoin payouts through BVNK, allowing companies to fund Visa Direct with stablecoins and send payouts to digital wallets.
- The initiative aims to provide instant payouts during weekends and holidays, reduce friction in cross-border payments, and lessen reliance on traditional banking networks.
- BVNK processes over $30 billion in stablecoin payments annually, and Visa sees this as an opportunity to scale digital asset infrastructure as regulatory clarity improves.
- The rollout will initially target markets with high demand for digital asset payments, with a broader expansion planned for the second half of 2026.
Visa’s rolling out stablecoin payouts through BVNK starting this week. Companies can now fund Visa Direct using stablecoins instead of just fiat, plus send payouts directly to digital wallets in stablecoins.
The timing makes sense. Visa dumped money into BVNK back in May 2025. Citi followed five months later with their own investment. Now they’re actually using the infrastructure they backed. BVNK processes north of $30 billion in stablecoin payments annually, so there’s real volume flowing through already.
Mark Nelsen from Visa called stablecoins an “exciting opportunity for global payments.” Standard exec-speak. The actual value prop? Instant payouts on weekends and holidays when banks are closed. Reduced friction for cross-border payments. Less reliance on correspondent banking networks that eat up time and fees.
This plugs into Visa’s $1.7 trillion payment network. BVNK’s $30 billion in annual flows isn’t huge relative to Visa’s total volume but it’s meaningful. More importantly, it’s infrastructure for handling digital assets that Visa can scale once regulatory clarity improves.
BVNK CEO Jesse Hemson-Struthers thinks stablecoins aren’t just a payment method but “a powerful layer of payments infrastructure.” That framing matters. Treating stablecoins as rails rather than currency opens different use cases. Pre-funding accounts, real-time settlement between counterparties, treasury management for multinationals operating across time zones.
They’re starting in markets showing strong demand for digital asset payments. No specific countries named yet but probably Latin America, parts of Asia, maybe Africa where banking infrastructure sucks and people already use crypto for remittances. Global rollout depends on customer needs and regulatory approvals.
Visa’s been building toward this for months. They announced stablecoin payout capabilities at Web Summit back in November. Talked about targeting creators, freelancers, marketplace participants. Their 2025 Creator Economy Report found 57% of content creators want instant access to funds, which traditional banking can’t deliver consistently.
The tech runs on blockchain for transparency. Every transaction gets logged permanently. Good for compliance, auditing, confirmation receipts. Helps address regulatory concerns about crypto being used for sketchy stuff.
Recipients get USD-backed stablecoins like USDC. Businesses fund in fiat if they want. End user receives stablecoins in their wallet. Solves the problem where creators in countries with weak currencies or limited USD access can’t easily get paid by US companies.
Broader rollout planned for second half 2026 as demand grows and regulations catch up. Right now it’s select partners only. Pilot mode basically, testing what breaks before going wide.
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