When a global payments network with decades of legacy and scale declares that payouts can arrive in minutes rather than days, it’s not fluff — it’s a
signal of systemic change. Visa’s new pilot allowing businesses to fund payouts in fiat while recipients receive USDC-backed stablecoins marks a pivotal moment in the evolution of cross-border payments (CBPs). Rather than a fringe use case,
this is the infrastructure layer being upgraded — and what follows will affect every bank, fintech and regulator in the ecosystem.

What makes this move notable? First: speed and accessibility. For freelancers and creators worldwide — long plagued by slow settlement, unpredictable FX and banking delays — this model offers a shortcut. According
to Visa’s own research cited in the pilot announcement, 57% of creators say instant access to payouts is their top concern. The pilot addresses precisely that pain point.

Second: programmability and auditability. Recipients opting for stablecoins place value directly into their wallets — bypassing traditional rails — while payors gain a blockchain-enabled trail: each payout, each
conversion and each settlement event becomes verifiable in real time. In an environment where global payments often remain opaque and slow, this introduces
a new dimension of trust.

Third: inclusion and frontier market impact. In jurisdictions where banking infrastructure is weak or currency volatility is high, stablecoin-based payouts offer a way for individuals to enter a global value chain
without waiting for local bank pre-funding or currency settlement. Essentially, this leapfrogs legacy hurdles.

But let’s also examine the strategic business and regulatory implications. For Visa, this pilot isn’t just about innovation; it’s about future-proofing its network. The era of card present vs. card not-present
is giving way to tokenised value movement — programmable, global and compliant. Visa, by layering stablecoins onto its existing platform, signals: “We don’t need to build a new payments network; we’ll ‌be‌ the rails on which new money flows.”
The announcement even notes that Visa has handled over USD 140 billion in crypto and stablecoin-related flows since 2020 — underscoring its seriousness.

Yet beneath the promise lies regulatory complexity and structural risk. Stablecoins are emerging as
financial infrastructure, not just tokens. This raises big questions:

• How will AML/KYC compliance travel with tokenised payouts?

• What liability do issuers and intermediaries face if the redemption or backing of stablecoins falters?

• How do cross-border tax, FX-risk, custody, and conversion mechanisms get handled when a digital dollar meets a local currency wallet?

• Does this model erode incumbent rails, or co-exist with them — and how will regulators respond when the line between bank money and tokenised money blurs?

For advanced economies, the pilot suggests banks and fintechs must ask: are we ready to integrate tokenised value flows — or merely adapt legacy channels? For emerging markets like India, the question is even more fundamental:
if global networks enable stablecoin payouts today, how fast will regulators and local enterprises respond to treat stablecoins
not as crypto curiosities, but as payment primitives?

The business model implications are equally profound. For enterprises paying globally, this model reduces currency-conversion delays, settlement risk and correspondent banking friction. For microworkers and creators,
it means earlier access to funds, less waiting and more control. But for intermediaries — banks, payment processors, FX providers — the disruption is real. The conductor of value may no longer be the bank; it might be a token issuer and wallet provider.

And let’s not underplay the economic leverage: Real-time tokenised payouts mean liquidity is freed, working capital cycles shrink, and value-in-motion becomes programmable. When scale kicks in — imagine hundreds
of millions of micro-payouts, gig economy payments across dozens of markets — the infrastructure savings and speed gains compound. It’s not incremental — it’s exponential.

Still, this shift will not result in throw-away “card vs crypto” narratives. The future is not binary. It is
compositional: card + token; fiat + stablecoin; bank + fintech; regulated + innovative. Institutions that recognise this will gain; those that resist will risk irrelevance.

In sum: Visa’s announcement is less a pilot and more a blueprint. The question now is: will we respond? Will local payments ecosystems, regulators and innovators lean into the moment — or watch their role shrink as value flows
evolve? The blueprint suggests that money will move faster, but influence will move slower if we don’t adapt.

Bottom line: This is not just about moving money faster — it’s about making money move smarter, with
trust, transparency and choice embedded from day one. And if you’re building payments systems, tokenised rails or cross-border flows, you can’t just ask
when — you must ask how.