Lloyds Banking Group and Visa have completed a seven-day pilot program involving the settlement of $750,000 in payment obligations. The trial, which concluded on September 30, 2026, utilized the USDC stablecoin to facilitate cross-border transactions outside of standard banking hours.
During the test, funds were transferred to Visa in under one hour, including on weekends. The obligations were processed through the Corporate Markets branch of Lloyds in Jersey, with the bank opting for USDC settlement instead of traditional dollar transfers.
To ensure regulatory compliance, Lloyds acquired the stablecoin through Archax, a digital asset exchange regulated in the UK. The project also evaluated the interoperability between the Canton blockchain network and various public blockchains.
Peter Left, Head of Digital Assets at Lloyds, noted that the digital settlement process offers corporate clients improved visibility into liquidity and greater operational flexibility. This initiative represents the first stablecoin settlement collaboration between Visa and a major UK banking group.
