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Visa expands Visa Direct stablecoin prefunding and payouts with Zerohash

Visa expands Visa Direct stablecoin prefunding and payouts with Zerohash

Eligible Visa Direct clients can prefund merchant accounts and send payouts in stablecoins through Zerohash as Visa deepens a payments strategy that also includes its stablecoin platform and earlier BVNK pilot.

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Fact Check
Four independent outlets (CryptoBriefing, CoinNess, Odaily, PANews citing The Block) published matching August 5, 2026 reports describing Visa partnering with Zero Hash to add stablecoin settlement and payouts to Visa Direct, with businesses prefunding accounts and paying out across 195+ countries and territories. Details are consistent across all sources, including the 18B+ endpoint figure and Zero Hash's role in settlement, liquidity, and compliance. No primary Visa/Zero Hash press release was located and no conflicting reports were found, hence medium confidence.
Summary

Visa said on Aug. 5 that eligible clients on Visa Direct will be able to prefund merchant accounts and send payouts using stablecoins through infrastructure from Zerohash, bringing onchain settlement into a network that reaches more than 18 billion endpoints across more than 195 countries and territories. The setup is aimed at helping businesses manage cross-border liquidity around the clock and lets recipients take funds directly in stablecoins, while Zerohash provides the regulatory and technical backend. The move extends a broader stablecoin push that includes a January Visa Direct pilot with BVNK, the July launch of the Visa Stablecoin Platform for banks and fintechs, and Visa's backing of Open Standard's planned OUSD stablecoin. Zerohash, founded in 2017, said in May it became the first firm licensed under Europe's Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation to also hold Electronic Money Institution status, and it has applied for a national trust bank charter in the U.S. after helping power Morgan Stanley's July rollout of Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana trading on E*Trade.

Terms & Concepts
  • onchain settlement: Completing and recording transfers using blockchain-based assets rather than only traditional banking rails.
  • Visa Direct: Visa's money-movement network for sending funds to cards, bank accounts and digital wallets.
  • Markets in Crypto-Assets: A European Union regulatory framework for crypto-asset businesses, often shortened to MiCA.