Visa Launches Fiat-to-Stablecoin Pilot Program for Business Payments

Group 1 - Visa is launching a pilot program that enables businesses to make payments to individual stablecoin wallets in fiat currency, allowing recipients to receive funds in US dollar-backed stablecoins [1] - The pilot program targets international businesses, marketplaces, creator and gig economy platforms, fintechs, and recipients with compatible stablecoin wallets who meet KYC/AML checks [1] - The reaction to the pilot program has been overwhelmingly positive within the cryptocurrency community, with many notable figures expressing bullish sentiments [2] Group 2 - The cryptocurrency sector has experienced record growth throughout 2025, largely driven by a pro-crypto regulatory approach from the Donald Trump administration [3] - Stablecoins have gained mainstream attention, with significant interest in products from crypto incumbents like Circle and increased exposure from mainstream financial organizations like Visa [4] - Cathie Wood, CEO of Ark Invest, has revised her bullish price forecast for Bitcoin from $1.5 million to $1.2 million per coin, attributing this change to the growth of stablecoins [5] Group 3 - Visa is heavily investing in stablecoins, implementing fiat-to-crypto bridges across its Visa Direct stack and other service areas [6] - The company previously launched a stablecoin prefund pilot program, which will work alongside the new fiat-to-stablecoin pilot program, allowing businesses to prefund payment accounts with stablecoins or remit directly from fiat accounts to crypto wallets [6]