Visa Partners with BVNK for Stablecoin Payouts via Visa Direct

The strategic partnership between payments giant Visa and stablecoin infrastructure provider BVNK represents a concrete expansion of Visa Direct’s capabilities. According to the press release, BVNK will power stablecoin payments for Visa’s massive money-movement platform, which processed $1.7 trillion in volume. The integration enables select business customers, including payment service providers (PSPs), marketplaces, and platforms, to pre-fund payouts using stablecoins and send funds directly to recipients’ digital wallets.

This rollout will initially focus on regions with strong demand for digital asset payments, with plans for further expansion based on customer needs and regulatory approval. Mark Nelsen, Visa’s global head of product for commercial and money movement solutions, emphasized the operational advantage of stablecoins, noting their ability to function “during weekends, holidays, and when banks are closed.” This move builds on Visa’s earlier stablecoin payout pilots, which began last November and allowed fiat-denominated payments to settle in dollar-pegged stablecoins like Circle’s USDC.

Industry experts point to the fundamental efficiency gains offered by stablecoin payouts. Jayanand Sagar, co-founder of Hyperbola Network, told Decrypt that “stablecoin payouts remove the biggest operational bottleneck in global payment, which is time.” He explained that when value can move instantly and around the clock, the traditional advantage of banking systems shifts from speed and efficiency toward areas like compliance and trust. The real question, Sagar argues, “isn’t whether stablecoins will disrupt banking, but whether local monetary infrastructure can adapt fast enough to adapt to new rails.”

The partnership is the next phase in a deepening relationship between the two companies. Last May, Visa’s venture arm invested an undisclosed amount in BVNK following the firm’s $50 million Series B funding round. A spokesperson for BVNK described the collaboration as a “clear sign that stablecoins are becoming a mainstream, complementary payment rail.” The firm is currently working on pilot programs with a limited set of Visa Direct enterprise clients, with a roadmap for expansion to additional corridors, currencies, stablecoins, and customer segments.

The long-term trajectory of this initiative is inextricably linked to evolving regulatory landscapes. The collaboration arrives as payment giants navigate new frameworks like the U.S. GENIUS Act, which establishes federal standards for payment stablecoins. Jimmy Xue, COO & Co-founder at Axis, told Decrypt that while payment networks act as ‘kingmakers’ by granting tokens instant global utility, “their power is now tethered to the federal standards of the GENIUS Act, which legally restricts them to supporting only strictly regulated ‘payment stablecoins.'”

This regulatory environment shifts the influence of networks like Visa from simply picking winners to defining the foundational infrastructure of global finance. As Brian Mehler, CEO of Stable, noted in a statement, “Payment networks will influence which stablecoins gain distribution, but they won’t dictate winners alone.” The determining factor, he argued, will be “whether the underlying infrastructure can deliver predictable fees, deterministic settlement, and the operational reliability institutions need.” Xue added that in this new paradigm, a token’s brand becomes less important to consumers than the institutional trust and fraud protections the network provides.

Visa’s wider access to its stablecoin payout services is expected in the second half of 2026, pending local regulations. The partnership with BVNK underscores a strategic commitment to integrating crypto payment rails, but its ultimate scale and success will be shaped by how quickly monetary infrastructure and regulatory frameworks adapt to accommodate these new forms of value transfer.