Visa Expands Stablecoin Payouts to 195 Countries With Zerohash

Visa is moving deeper into onchain payments by enabling stablecoin prefunding and payouts across its Visa Direct platform, a move that could reshape how businesses manage liquidity and cross-border settlements. The integration, powered by crypto infrastructure provider Zerohash, allows eligible clients to send and receive stablecoins directly through Visa's global network, which spans more than 18 billion endpoints in over 195 countries and territories. This development signals Visa's intent to make stablecoins a practical tool for mainstream payments, not just crypto trading or remittances.

Stablecoins Enter Payment Infrastructure

For years, stablecoins have struggled to gain traction on traditional payment rails due to regulatory uncertainty, technical integration hurdles, and limited merchant acceptance. Visa's latest move aims to address these barriers by embedding stablecoin capabilities into Visa Direct, its real-time money movement service. With Zerohash handling the regulatory and technical backend, businesses can now prefund merchant accounts and send payouts in stablecoins, potentially reducing settlement times and enabling 24/7 liquidity management. Recipients can choose to receive funds in stablecoins or convert to local currency, depending on their needs and jurisdictional requirements.

Zerohash's Role and Regulatory Position

Zerohash, founded in 2017, has established itself as a key player in institutional crypto infrastructure. The company raised $104 million in a Series D-2 round led by Interactive Brokers and was valued at $1 billion. In May, Zerohash became the first firm licensed under Europe's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation to also hold Electronic Money Institution status, and it has applied for a U.S. national trust bank charter to expand its custody and settlement services. Zerohash's infrastructure is already used by major financial institutions, including Morgan Stanley's E*Trade, which launched Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana trading in July. By partnering with Visa, Zerohash brings regulatory compliance and onchain settlement capabilities to a network that reaches cards, bank accounts, and digital wallets worldwide.

Visa's Broader Stablecoin Strategy

The Zerohash integration is part of a larger stablecoin push by Visa that began in early 2025. Earlier this year, Visa piloted stablecoin prefunding and payouts with BVNK, and in July, it launched the Visa Stablecoin Platform to help banks and fintechs issue, hold, and transfer stablecoins within their existing treasury systems. Visa is also backing Open Standard, the consortium behind the OUSD stablecoin. The company sees stablecoins as more than just a tool for peer-to-peer transfers, envisioning their use in automated commerce and what it calls the "agentic economy," where systems transact on behalf of users. The pace of adoption will depend on how quickly businesses embrace these new capabilities and how regulatory clarity evolves, especially for cross-border payments.

Market Impact and Competitive Landscape

Visa's partnership with Zerohash comes as other payment giants explore similar moves. Mastercard reportedly considered acquiring Zerohash, but no deal materialized, leaving Visa to secure the infrastructure for its own network. The integration could give Visa an edge in the race to bring stablecoins into mainstream payments, but success will hinge on regulatory developments and business adoption. For U.S. users and companies, the ability to move funds onchain through a familiar payment network could reduce friction and costs, but stablecoin use remains subject to evolving federal and state regulations. For those comparing crypto payment options, understanding the differences in fees, liquidity, and conversion rules is essential-a topic explored in depth in EgonCoin's guide to crypto cards for daily spending and stablecoin use.

According to Visa, the Visa Direct platform now connects to more than 18 billion endpoints, including cards, bank accounts, and digital wallets, across over 195 countries and territories. Zerohash's $104 million Series D-2 funding round, led by Interactive Brokers, valued the company at $1 billion. In July, Morgan Stanley's E*Trade, powered by Zerohash, began offering trading in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana. Zerohash's MiCA license and Electronic Money Institution status in Europe, along with its pending U.S. trust bank charter application, position it to serve both European and American markets as regulatory frameworks for stablecoins continue to develop.

Stablecoin integration into global payment networks highlights the growing intersection of traditional finance and blockchain infrastructure. While stablecoins offer the promise of faster, lower-cost, and programmable payments, their adoption depends on regulatory clarity, technical reliability, and merchant acceptance. For businesses, the ability to manage liquidity around the clock and settle cross-border transactions without relying on traditional banking hours could be a significant advantage. However, users and companies must weigh the benefits against potential risks, including regulatory changes, counterparty exposure, and the operational complexity of managing onchain assets alongside fiat systems.