Summary
- Visa Direct is enhancing its services with stablecoin prefunding and payout options via Zerohash.
- Qualified clients can utilize stablecoins for cross-border payouts and account prefunding.
- This initiative is part of Visa's broader strategy to incorporate stablecoins into its global payment framework.
Visa is broadening its stablecoin payment services through a partnership with Zerohash, a cryptocurrency infrastructure provider. This collaboration allows eligible clients using Visa Direct to prefund accounts and execute payouts in stablecoins.
On Wednesday, Zerohash announced that these new features will be accessible via Visa Direct, which serves as the company’s money transfer network.
Edward Woodford, founder and CEO of Zerohash, stated, "Unlocking stablecoin use cases at the core network level further accelerates adoption globally."
This integration enables businesses to fund their Visa Direct accounts with stablecoins before making payments, facilitating liquidity management beyond traditional banking hours. Recipients are now also able to receive payouts directly in stablecoins instead of local currencies.
Zerohash, which was established in 2017, provides crypto infrastructure tailored for financial institutions. Earlier this year, in March, it sought a national trust bank charter to enhance its custody and settlement operations. Furthermore, in July, it played a crucial role in Morgan Stanley’s launch of trading for Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana on E*Trade.
This announcement marks another significant step for Visa in the stablecoin sector.
In January, Visa collaborated with BVNK to test stablecoin prefunding and payouts through Visa Direct. Then, in July, the company introduced the Visa Stablecoin Platform, which provides banks and fintech companies with tools to issue, hold, and transfer stablecoins, integrating them with existing treasury and payment systems.
Mark Nelsen, Visa's global head of product, commented, "Stablecoins are creating new opportunities to make money movement faster and more flexible, particularly for cross-border use cases. Working with Zerohash helps us bring stablecoin capabilities to our clients at scale, in a way that’s reliable and interoperable with the financial systems they already rely on today.”