Visa and Lloyds Test Stablecoin Settlement for $750,000 in Cross-Border Payments
Visa and Lloyds Banking Group have successfully completed a seven-day pilot using stablecoins for cross-border settlement, transferring USD $750,000 in payment obligations between the two institutions.
The test examined whether stablecoin-based settlement could facilitate faster and more efficient movement of funds outside traditional banking hours. The funds reached Visa in under an hour, including over a weekend.
The pilot, which focused on settlement rather than front-end payments, used USDC stablecoins acquired through Archax, a UK-regulated digital asset exchange. Lloyds' Corporate Markets branch in Jersey initiated the transfer, which was then routed to Visa in the United States.
According to Peter Left, Head of Digital Assets at Lloyds Banking Group, stablecoins could be particularly valuable for cross-border payments, where moving money between markets, currencies, and infrastructures can add time and complexity.