Tovic Salvador

A graphic of a stablecoin created with ChatGPT, edited with Pixlr, using an ABS-CBN  file photo of pesos and dollars in the background. Arthur Fuentes, ABS-CBN News

Article (news)

Arthur Fuentes

ABS-CBN News

SINGAPORE – Global payments firm Visa Inc has announced that it is piloting a stablecoin payments system, which is expected to benefit people who depend on remittances, as well as freelancers and creators.  During the Singapore Fintech Festival today, Visa said the system, which runs on its Visa Direct platform, lets businesses and platforms to send payouts directly to recipients’ stablecoin wallets. Stablecoins allow near-instant, cross-border payouts, eliminating banking hours and cross-border lags, Visa said.Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies, but unlike Bitcoin and other cryptos, their value is directly pegged to fiat money like the US dollar. This means they are not prone to wild swings in value like Bitcoin, and they offer the stability of traditional money.  “For businesses using Visa Direct, payouts can be funded in fiat currency, while recipients can choose to receive their funds in USD-backed stablecoins like USDC, transforming the speed and accessibility of global payouts,” the company said.Visa said this provides creators, freelancers, and marketplaces with a stable store of value and faster access to funds - even in markets facing currency volatility or limited banking infrastructure.“Whether it’s a creator building a digital brand, a business reaching new global markets or a freelancer working across borders, everyone benefits from faster, more flexible money movement,” said Chris Newkirk, President, Commercial &amp; Money Movement Solutions, Visa.Cuy Sheffield, Head of Crypto at Visa, said stablecoins will significantly speed up remittances.“If you start with remittances, stablecoins have this property where, because they run on a blockchain, you can transfer them 24/7 across the world and they settle instantly,” Sheffield said during Visa’s briefing with journalists.“If I had a Coinbase account in the US, if my cousin had a Binance account in the Philippines, we figured out that I could send USDC from Coinbase to Binance across the world and it would settle instantly,” Sheffield added.The global payments firm said this is ideal for international businesses, marketplaces, creator/gig economy platforms, fintechs, and recipients with a compatible stablecoin wallet and who meet KYC/AML [know your customer/anti-money laundering] checks.Visa said it is currently onboarding select partners for its stablecoin pilot, with wider access projected for 2026.<div>HOLDING DOLLARS, CROSS-BORDER LENDING</div>Using a dollar-pegged stablecoin like the USDC also means businesses and individuals can ‘hold’ dollars, which is the preferred currency for payments.“And so we&#x27;re seeing this become one of the killer use cases where stable coins are just an easier, more accessible way to be able to get dollars as a consumer or a small business all over the world,” Sheffield said.He said they estimate that there are up to 200 million people who are holding stablecoin balances today, using them as a proxy for dollars.Another use case for stablecoins is lending, as they are programmable and can be used within smart contracts. Sheffield said that a study done by his team showed that over $670 billion of loans have been dispersed in an automated way on-chain in stablecoins.“Many of these loans are moving across the world. You could have a lender in Brazil (20:08) that is depositing stable coins for a borrower in the Philippines,” he said.Sheffield said global stablecoin adoption has quickened since the US signed the ‘GENIUSt’ or Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins) Act, which laid down a regulatory framework for payment stablecoins.“This isn&#x27;t gonna go away. We&#x27;re gonna see a rise of brand new, next-generation, on-chain financial services. We&#x27;re gonna see traditional financial services come on-chain.And we believe Visa is incredibly well-positioned, sitting in the middle, providing the infrastructure and the trust and the acceptance to help our clients succeed in this ecosystem,” Sheffield said.

Visa is piloting a stablecoin payments system, which is expected to benefit people who depend on remittances, as well as freelancers and creators.

Visa is piloting a stablecoin payments system, which is expected to benefit people who depend on remittances, as well as freelancers and creators.

Stablecoins seen speeding up remittances, payments to gig workers, creators

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Stablecoins seen speeding up remittances, payments to gig workers, creators

Arthur Fuentes,

ABS-CBN News

Published Nov 17, 2025 09:00 AM PHT

|

Updated Nov 17, 2025 02:25 PM PHT

Read More:

Visa

stablecoin

Singapore Fintech Festival

cryptocurrency

blockchain

GENIUS Act

remittances

freelancers

gig worker

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