Visa Direct moves USDC prefunding to production with Inyo

Key points

• Visa Direct's USDC prefunding moved from pilot to commercial production on Oct. 15, 2026
• Inyo Global is the first enabler; its payouts reach more than 180 countries
• Offering is limited to eligible Visa Direct clients and partners, varying by geography
• The 200-country figure is Mastercard's 2027 target, not Visa's current coverage

Visa has moved stablecoin prefunding for its Visa Direct payouts network from pilot to commercial production, naming payments infrastructure provider Inyo Global as the first company to offer it. According to Visa’s October 15 announcement, eligible businesses can fund cross-border payouts with USDC in near real time.

What Visa launched with Inyo Global

Visa said businesses using the capability can prefund cross-border Visa Direct payouts with USDC instead of relying only on traditional funding windows. Inyo Global serves money transmitters, fintechs, banks and payment businesses, and its platform supports payouts across more than 180 countries using Visa Direct, according to the release.

Inyo says the USDC option runs around the clock through the APIs its customers already use, according to CryptoSlate’s report. Crypto Briefing likewise reported that providers working with Inyo do not need a new interface and can prefund without waiting for bank cutoffs.

Visa introduced stablecoin prefunding and payout pilots through Visa Direct in 2025. The company said the offering is available to eligible Visa Direct clients and partners, and that availability varies by eligibility and geography. The release did not disclose transaction volumes. It also did not name other stablecoins or blockchains.

Vira Platonova, Visa’s global head of Visa Direct, said, “The next chapter for stablecoins is adoption.”

How the 200-country figure fits in

The 200-country number in some coverage does not describe the Visa rollout. Visa and Inyo cite more than 180 countries for Inyo’s payout reach. The figure of more than 200 countries and territories comes from Mastercard, which, according to CryptoSlate, expects payout coverage to extend to more than 40 currencies across that many countries and territories in 2027. CryptoSlate describes that as an expansion target rather than current coverage.

Mastercard’s Global Money Platform, run through stablecoin infrastructure firm BVNK, was announced the same week. CryptoSlate reports that it combines fiat and stablecoin accounts, conversion and payouts, so a business can hold a stablecoin balance while the recipient receives local currency in a bank account. BVNK names USDC and Open USD (OUSD) among the supported stablecoins. Nuvei and Marqeta are named as expected early integrators, which CryptoSlate describes as planned rather than live.

What to watch next

The announcements change how a payment is funded rather than what the recipient receives. CryptoSlate notes that neither company has disclosed measured stablecoin payment volume or realized fee savings, so the practical effect on cost and speed is not yet public.

Reports on the earlier pilot said recipients needed a compatible stablecoin wallet and had to pass know-your-customer and anti-money-laundering checks, and eligibility limits still apply to the commercial offering. Whether Visa extends prefunding to other processors, and on what timeline, was not specified in the announcement.

According to CryptoSlate’s market data on the day of its report, USDC traded at $1.00, with a market capitalization of about $72.61 billion.