Visa Launches Stablecoin Payout Pilot for Gig Workers, Creators, and Freelancers

Visa has rolled out a new pilot program designed to pay gig workers and freelancers using dollar-backed stablecoins, marking another step in the company’s deeper shift toward blockchain-powered payments. Announced on Wednesday, the initiative enables U.S.-based marketplaces to send payouts directly to users’ stablecoin wallets, starting with Circle’s USDC.

Chris Newkirk, Visa’s president of commercial and money movement solutions, said the goal is to make global payments nearly instant. According to him, stablecoin payouts are meant to offer access to money “in minutes — not days — for anyone, anywhere in the world.”

The pilot is supported by Visa Direct, the company’s real-time payments system that can send funds to users in 30 minutes or less. Visa added stablecoin functionality to Visa Direct in September, paving the way for the new program.

Expanding Crypto Capabilities

Visa, which serves more than 4 billion account holders and over 130 million merchants, has been steadily integrating crypto and stablecoin services into its offerings. In April, the company teamed up with stablecoin infrastructure provider Bridge, enabling fintechs to issue Visa cards linked directly to stablecoin balances. Bridge was later acquired by Stripe for $1.1 billion.

Another major partnership followed in July with Paxos, bringing PayPal’s PYUSD and the USDG stablecoin—developed by a consortium including Robinhood and Kraken—into the Visa ecosystem. Rubail Birwadker, Visa’s head of growth products and partnerships, said trusted and scalable stablecoins could “fundamentally transform how money moves around the world.”

Mastercard has been making similar moves, collaborating with firms like Ripple, Ondo Finance, Fiserv, and Kraken as competition between the payments giants intensifies.

Policy Tailwinds and New Technical Flexibility

The timing of Visa’s stablecoin expansion comes as the U.S. government pushes forward with clearer rules for digital assets. Under President Donald Trump, lawmakers passed legislation in July outlining which entities can issue stablecoins and under what regulatory conditions, encouraging traditional financial institutions and payment processors to step further into the sector.

In November, Tria co-founder and CEO Vijit Katta told DL News that Visa has recently updated internal regulations to better align blockchain technology with existing payment rails. He noted that the technical changes have enabled capabilities that would have been impossible just a couple of years ago, significantly improving how self-custodial crypto neobanks can operate.

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