Visa Turns to BVNK to Power Stablecoin Payments

Stablecoin infrastructure provider BVNK is set to start powering stablecoin payments for Visa’s money movement network.

The partnership between the two companies, announced Wednesday (Jan. 14) in a news release shared with PYMNTS, will see BVNK power Visa Direct’s stablecoin services such as stablecoin pre-funding, allowing certain select business customers to fund Visa Direct payouts using stablecoins instead of only fiat, as well payouts to end recipients in stablecoins.

“Stablecoins are an exciting opportunity for global payments, with enormous potential to reduce friction and expand access to faster, more efficient payment options – including during weekends, holidays and when banks are closed,” Mark Nelsen, global head of product, commercial and money movement solutions at Visa, said in a statement. “BVNK shares this vision, and that’s why we’re partnering with them to provide the reliable, trusted and necessary infrastructure needed to expand our Visa Direct stablecoin pilots.”

The release noted that this announcement continues the relationship between the two companies, with Visa Ventures having invested in BVNK last year. The integration marks Visa Direct’s expansion into stablecoin infrastructure offered by BVNK.

“Visa and BVNK both believe in the transformational potential of stablecoin technology, not just as a payment method, but as a powerful layer of payments infrastructure,” Jesse Hemson-Struthers, BVNK’s chief executive, said in a statement.

“This partnership is unlocking a new layer of payment innovation where stablecoins will be embedded directly into the world’s most trusted payments network,” Hemson-Struthers added. “It will give businesses and end consumers more choice in how and when they receive and send their funds.”

According to the release, the partnership will focus initially on markets showing strong demand for digital asset payments before a wider global rollout based on customer needs.

PYMNTS spoke with Visa’s Nelsen last year on the company’s plans to meld stablecoin payments with the burgeoning creator economy.

“There are 30 million creators, and they’re in all these markets where the local currency isn’t really strong,” he said. “That’s where stablecoins can offer a sweet spot in being able to say, ‘We can pay you immediately.’“

This trend continued more recently with Rumble’s announcement that it was teaming stablecoin issuer Tether to let audiences tip creators natively in the Tether stablecoin (USDT), Tether Gold (XAUt) and Bitcoin (BTC). It’s part of a larger push towards making stablecoins more mainstream, PYMNTS wrote last week.