Visa adds stablecoin prefunding, payouts via zerohash

Visa announced Aug. 5, 2026 that eligible Visa Direct clients can prefund merchant accounts and send payouts in stablecoins using zerohash’s technology and regulatory stack. Visa Direct connects to more than 18 billion endpoints across cards, bank accounts and digital wallets in over 195 countries and territories. The integration allows businesses to move and disburse liquidity onchain for cross-border payouts outside local banking hours.

The feature has two functions. On the funding side, companies can deposit stablecoins to prefund Visa Direct accounts instead of wiring fiat. On the disbursement side, businesses can send payouts that recipients receive directly in stablecoins rather than only receiving fiat converted at the last mile. zerohash supports dozens of blockchains and stablecoins and provides the technical and compliance infrastructure for the integration.

Prefunding addresses an operational need for payout providers, marketplaces, payroll platforms and remittance firms that hold working capital in local accounts across the markets they serve. Stablecoin prefunding lets those firms rebalance liquidity at any hour, reducing the buffer of idle capital tied up while waiting for correspondent banks or local banking windows to open.

Chicago-based zerohash, founded in 2017, handles custody, settlement pathways and regulatory controls for financial institutions. It provides stablecoin and crypto services to clients such as Morgan Stanley, Marqeta and Worldpay. The company raised $104 million in a Series D-2 round led by Interactive Brokers at a reported $1 billion valuation and has applied to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for a national trust bank charter while holding regulatory permissions in Europe and electronic money institution status.

Visa ran a pilot on the same Visa Direct platform in January 2026 with infrastructure partner BVNK that enabled PYUSD payouts. Adding zerohash gives the platform a second infrastructure partner, which allows Visa to compare regulatory coverage, chain support and corridor performance across providers.

The announcement does not list which stablecoins will be supported, which markets will launch first or a timetable for broader availability. Local liquidity and the depth of off-ramps will determine how useful onchain payouts are for recipients in many countries. Where on-ramps and off-ramps are thin, a recipient paid in a dollar-pegged token may face challenges spending or converting that balance.

Operational responsibilities remain with businesses adopting the feature. Firms will still manage stablecoin custody choices, conversions into local currency when needed, tax reporting and compliance with jurisdiction-specific digital asset rules. Visa and zerohash provide the rails and a regulatory framework, but treasury practices and local compliance are the responsibility of the companies using the rails.

Edward Woodford, founder and CEO of zerohash, described the partnership as: “Unlocking stablecoin use cases at the core network level further accelerates adoption globally. This partnership helps extend access to onchain money into Visa Direct.”

Market reaction on the day of the announcement was muted. Visa shares slipped 0.23% to close at $368.74, reflecting limited immediate investor response. The integration will be evaluated by uptake among Visa Direct clients and the volume of cross-border flows that use stablecoin prefunding.