Bank-Grade Stablecoin Payments Now Operational: Lloyds-Visa Pilot Success
Lloyds Banking Group and Visa recently completed a seven-day live pilot that successfully settled $750,000 in payment obligations using stablecoins. The test, which took place from September 30 to October 6, 2026, demonstrated bank-grade stablecoin payments are now operational.
The pilot involved Lloyds settling on its private permissioned blockchain, Canton, while Visa supported settlement on a separate public blockchain. The stablecoin used was USDC, issued by Circle, and the transactions were finalized in under an hour, even over the weekend.
This achievement is significant because it eliminates idle liquidity and reduces foreign exchange exposure windows from days to minutes. For businesses that pay suppliers, contractors, or distributed teams globally, settling on a Saturday without a cost penalty rewrites cash-flow assumptions.