Visa and Mastercard are making separate but complementary moves to expand stablecoin use in mainstream payment flows, targeting the liquidity and compliance hurdles that have limited adoption. On August 5, Visa announced a collaboration with onchain infrastructure provider Zero Hash that will allow eligible Visa Direct clients to prefund merchant accounts and send payouts using stablecoins. Zero Hash supplies the underlying technology and regulatory support, enabling cross-border liquidity management outside traditional banking hours.
Visa Direct connects to over 18 billion endpoints—cards, bank accounts, and digital wallets—across more than 195 countries. Global Head of Product Mark Nelsen said stablecoins are "creating new opportunities to make money movement faster and more flexible," and the integration is designed to let businesses fund accounts closer to the time payouts are needed, reducing idle capital. The announcement builds on Visa’s broader stablecoin platform, introduced in July, and its participation in Open Standard, which is launching the OUSD stablecoin.
Zero Hash, which recently became the first firm licensed under Europe’s MiCA regulation to also obtain Electronic Money Institution status, is providing the compliance infrastructure. CEO Edward Woodford noted the partnership "helps extend access to onchain money into Visa Direct" and gives recipients quicker access to funds.
Meanwhile, Mastercard and Borderless.xyz are testing a system of reusable assurance signals for stablecoin payment providers under the Mastercard Crypto Credential framework. The pilot targets the exponential compliance burden as networks grow—a web of 10 providers can require up to 45 independent KYB and risk assessments. By offering a standardized attestation that a participant has been vetted against agreed governance standards, the project aims to shorten onboarding and cut duplicate work. Borderless.xyz CEO Kevin Lehtiniitty stated "compliance doesn't scale the same way the network does."
Both initiatives address the full payment chain, where blockchain speed is only one step. Even with instant settlement, businesses still need funded liquidity, a compliant provider, and a reliable off-ramp for local currency. Visa’s Zero Hash integration targets the liquidity bottleneck, while Mastercard’s pilot tackles the compliance scaling problem. Neither project has yet disclosed transaction volumes, pricing, or a broad launch timeline, and stablecoin availability will depend on client eligibility, jurisdiction, and supported networks. Live results will determine if they meaningfully lower costs and capital requirements for global payouts.
