On September 30, 2025, Visa announced a pilot program that allows banks and payment companies to pre-fund Visa Direct using stablecoins for faster liquidity. This innovation aims to address long-standing friction in cross-border payouts caused by float, cut-off times, and multi-day settlement.

• The pilot enables participants to send a supported stablecoin to Visa, which then treats that stablecoin balance as available funds for immediate disbursements to cards, bank accounts, or wallets, eliminating the need to park large fiat balances for days.
• Visa is onboarding select partners now, with plans for expansion in 2026, serving banks, remitters, marketplaces, payroll platforms, and Fintechs.
• For Kenya and Africa, this means regional players can compress payout cycles and reduce idle float, building on existing Visa-powered innovations like the M-Pesa GlobalPay virtual Visa card and Absa’s “Visa Send Money”.