Visa Launches 24/7 USDC Payments Across 180 Countries

Visa Turns Its Stablecoin Pilot Into a Real-World Feature

Have you ever tried sending money across borders over a weekend? Traditional bank transfers often stall until Monday morning. Visa is working to change that by taking its stablecoin payment tools out of the testing lab and moving them into live commercial production.

Through a new partnership with Inyo Global, a Massachusetts-based payments infrastructure firm, Visa is expanding its Visa Direct capabilities. The collaboration allows financial institutions to prefund and send USD Coin (USDCUSDC-0.24%) payouts around the clock across more than 180 countries.

How Visa Direct and Inyo Global Work Together

In simple terms, Inyo Global acts as a key bridge for fintech companies, payment platforms, and money transmitters. By tapping into the Visa Direct network, businesses can prefund their payout operations using USDC at any time of day or night.

This setup enables cross-border payments between traditional fiat money and stablecoins. Recipients in regions where payment infrastructure is slow can receive dollar-pegged digital assets in real time, bypassing standard banking hours and delays.

What the Leadership Has to Say

Vira Platonova, the Global Head of Visa Direct, emphasized that the focus for stablecoins has shifted directly toward real-world adoption.

"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," said Platonova.

Robson Dantas, chief product and technology officer and co-founder at Inyo Global, pointed out how simple integration will be for existing clients.

"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 declared.

Surging Growth in Visa’s Stablecoin Network

This full commercial launch follows significant growth in Visa's digital asset activities. The payment giant recently reported that its stablecoin settlements hit an annualized run rate of $20 billion. That marks a 15-fold increase compared to the levels seen just a year earlier.

Past digital asset performance or operational metrics do not guarantee future performance.

Visa has also been testing these settlement rails with legacy financial institutions. In September, the company completed a pilot settlement with Lloyds Banking Group, receiving $750,000 in USDC during a seven-day test while traditional banking channels were closed.

Growing Demand Across the APAC Region

Demand for stablecoin payment solutions appears to be growing quickly around the world, especially in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) market.

A study commissioned by Visa showed that stablecoin adoption has substantial room for growth in APAC, with 46% of consumers expressing plans to use stablecoins for payments. As traditional payment giants build out this technology, fast 24/7 cross-border transfers are becoming a practical reality for global commerce.