Visa Direct Takes USDC Prefunding Live With Inyo Global

Visa Direct goes live with USDC prefunding via Inyo Global

Visa announced on Oct. 15 that its stablecoin prefunding service for Visa Direct has entered commercial production, with Inyo Global as its first partner. Eligible payment providers can now use USDC, a type of stablecoin that is pegged to the US dollar, to fund cross-border payouts through Visa's real-time payments infrastructure.

For banks, remitters and payout providers, the service offers an alternative to traditional fiat funding windows. Visa says Inyo's integration lets businesses supply USDC in near real time to cover payouts, while recipients still receive local currency.

How the prefunding model works

Visa first introduced the prefunding pilot in September 2025 for banks, remitters and financial institutions. Under that model, businesses could supply stablecoins instead of only fiat to cover payouts.

In a February explanation of the pilot, Visa said it converts incoming stablecoins into fiat and recognizes them as a dollar balance available almost instantly for payouts. That approach lets treasury teams top up closer to payout time rather than leaving capital idle in advance, according to Visa.

The commercial launch is a deployment of the same model through Inyo, not a change to prefunding itself.

Inyo's role and platform

Inyo is the processor bringing the capability to eligible Visa Direct clients and partners. Its platform combines customer onboarding, fraud and compliance controls, payment acceptance and domestic and international payouts through a single connection.

Visa says Inyo's wider platform supports payouts across more than 180 countries, but availability of the new funding service varies by eligibility and geography. The launch announcement identifies USDC but does not list supported blockchains or eligible payment corridors.

Robson Dantas, Inyo's chief product and technology officer and co-founder, described the new funding option as "available around the clock" and running through "the same Inyo APIs they already use," according to Visa's release.

How this differs from Visa's wallet payout pilot

Prefunding is distinct from Visa's November 2025 wallet payout pilot. In that separate model, businesses supply fiat and recipients receive dollar-backed stablecoins such as USDC in their wallets. The two routes put stablecoins on different sides of a payment: prefunding uses stablecoins on the sender side, while the wallet payout pilot delivers them on the recipient side.

What is confirmed

• Visa Direct's stablecoin prefunding service is now in commercial production as of Oct. 15, 2026.
• Inyo Global is the first enabler of the service.
• Eligible payment providers can use USDC to fund cross-border payouts.
• The prefunding pilot launched in September 2025.

What is still unclear

• The announcement does not specify which blockchains support the service.
• No eligible payment corridors are listed.
• It is not detailed which specific banks, remitters or payout providers qualify as eligible clients.

Why this matters for cross-border payments

The move gives payment providers an additional way to fund international payouts using stablecoins rather than relying solely on traditional fiat funding windows. By converting stablecoins to a usable dollar balance almost instantly, the model reduces the amount of capital businesses need to keep idle before making payouts.

Sources

• The Defiant
• Visa announcement
• Visa prefunding pilot announcement
• Visa February pilot explanation

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