Visa Taps BVNK to Bring Stablecoins Into Cross-Border Payouts

Visa is adding stablecoin payout and settlement capabilities to Visa Direct through an integration with UK-based infrastructure provider BVNK, widening the ways its real-time payments network can move money globally.

The companies said businesses in select markets will be able to pre-fund payouts in stablecoins and send funds directly to recipients’ digital wallets. 

Visa Direct is used for rapid person-to-person and business-to-person payments such as payroll, gig-economy earnings, and cross-border remittances, and Visa said stablecoins can help users access funds outside normal banking hours.

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Visa and BVNK Unite

BVNK will provide the stablecoin rails and settlement layer. The firm said it processes more than US$30 billion (AU$45.9 billion) in stablecoin payments each year. Keep in mind Visa Direct is a US$1.7 trillion (AU$2.6 trillion) real-time payments network.

So, Visa invested in BVNK through its venture arm in May 2025, with Citigroup making a strategic investment about five months later. Visa’s global head of product, Mark Nelsen, said stablecoins could reduce friction and expand access to faster payment options.

Stablecoins are an exciting opportunity for global payments, with enormous potential to reduce friction and expand access to faster, more efficient payment options – including during weekends, holidays and when banks are closed. BVNK shares this vision, and that’s why we’re partnering with them to provide the reliable, trusted and necessary infrastructure needed to expand our Visa Direct stablecoin pilots.

Mark Nelsen, Global Head of Product, Commercial & Money Movement solutions at Visa.

European regulators, including the ECB, have warned that fast-growing stablecoin use could create spillover risks for bank funding even as it improves cross-border payments. 

In the US, lawmakers are still negotiating the CLARITY Act and related proposals, including rules that could shape whether regulated firms can add reward features to payment-focused stablecoin products. 

BVNK said its stablecoin payouts are restricted to compliant wallets and counterparties and are designed to align with frameworks including the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), alongside UK and US regimes.

Related: South Korea Moves to Lift Institutional Crypto Ban With Proposed 5% Corporate Investment Cap