Visa is expanding its payment capabilities by introducing stablecoin-based funding and payouts to Visa Direct through a new collaboration with onchain infrastructure provider Zerohash. This extension of the card network’s payment rails is designed for businesses that need to move money across borders outside conventional banking hours.
Under the arrangement, eligible Visa Direct clients will be able to prefund merchant accounts with stablecoins and send payouts using the tokens. Zerohash will provide the underlying blockchain infrastructure, settlement technology and regulatory support, according to a Wednesday press release from Visa.
The initiative aims to address a persistent constraint in international business payments: bank transfers can be limited by local clearing schedules, weekends, holidays and the need to maintain prefunded accounts in several currencies. Stablecoin settlement could allow participating businesses to fund payment activity continuously, while offering recipients the option to receive payouts in stablecoins where the service is available.
Visa Direct connects businesses and financial institutions to more than 18 billion endpoints, including payment cards, bank accounts and digital wallets, across more than 195 countries and territories, according to Visa. Adding stablecoins to that network places the technology within an existing payouts system rather than requiring merchants to build a separate crypto-payment operation.
Stablecoins move into the payout workflow
Visa’s announcement focuses on the funding and payout stages of a transaction, not on allowing consumers to spend stablecoins at retail checkouts. That distinction places the product closer to treasury management and business-to-business payments, where companies need to move funds among merchants, contractors, platforms and customers in multiple markets.
A business using the service could potentially hold stablecoins as a source of liquidity, deploy them to fund merchant balances, and make payments without waiting for each local banking system to reopen. The arrangement could be especially useful for marketplaces and digital platforms that manage frequent, relatively small payouts to participants in different countries.
The practical benefits will depend on which stablecoins, blockchain networks, countries and recipient types are supported at launch. Visa did not specify those details in the announcement, nor did it disclose a timetable for a wider rollout.
Stablecoins are digital tokens designed to maintain a relatively steady value, commonly by being backed by cash, short-term government securities or other reserve assets. Their use in payments has drawn attention from banks, card networks and fintech companies because blockchain transfers can operate continuously. The model also introduces its own requirements, including compliance screening, wallet management, token redemption arrangements and regulatory permissions in each jurisdiction.
Visa has been testing digital-asset settlement and payment tools for several years. Its latest move goes further into the operational layer of business disbursements, where the value proposition is less about speculative trading and more about reducing the time cash remains tied up between payment instructions and final receipt.
Zerohash supplies regulated infrastructure
Zerohash, founded in 2017, provides infrastructure that allows financial companies to offer digital-asset trading, custody, payments and tokenization services without building all of the technology internally. In Visa’s planned service, the company will handle the technical connection between stablecoin transactions and Visa Direct’s payout capabilities, alongside regulatory support.
The company said it raised $104 million in a Series D-2 financing round led by Interactive Brokers, valuing Zerohash at $1 billion. That financing gave the company additional capital as it sought to expand its payments, custody and tokenization operations.
In May, Zerohash said it had become the first company licensed under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation, known as MiCA, to also hold Electronic Money Institution status. The combination is relevant for stablecoin payment products because MiCA establishes rules for crypto-asset service providers and stablecoin issuers, while EMI authorization supports regulated electronic-money activities.
Zerohash has also applied to the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for a national trust bank charter, according to the company. An approval would place it under federal banking supervision for the activities covered by such a charter, though the application itself does not guarantee approval.
A payments use case with fewer banking cutoffs
The partnership follows a pattern emerging across major payment networks: stablecoins are increasingly being examined as back-end settlement tools rather than marketed solely as consumer-facing crypto products. The focus is on the parts of the payment chain that remain fragmented, particularly cross-border funding, reconciliation and disbursement.
Visa Direct’s scale gives the project potential reach, but access will remain dependent on the financial institutions, merchants and jurisdictions participating in the program. A payout system can only deliver round-the-clock settlement benefits if the receiving side has the ability to accept, hold or convert the stablecoin funds under local rules.
The product also raises familiar questions for businesses. Stablecoin payouts may reduce reliance on banking cutoffs, yet companies must still manage currency conversion, token reserve risk, blockchain transaction fees, sanctions screening and the treatment of funds held in digital wallets. For many merchants, the appeal will be strongest where those operational costs are lower than the friction of existing international payment routes.
Visa’s decision to use Zerohash gives it a specialist provider for those crypto-specific functions while keeping Visa Direct at the center of the payment distribution network. The result is a model in which stablecoins could serve as an always-on liquidity layer behind conventional cards, accounts and wallets rather than replacing them.
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