Cross-border payment providers often lock up capital in prefunded accounts to ensure liquidity across time zones and banking holidays. Stablecoins are emerging as a tool to replenish these balances outside traditional banking hours, potentially reducing the amount of cash held in reserve.
Visa launched commercial stablecoin prefunding for its Visa Direct service on October 15. Inyo Global, a payments infrastructure firm, is the first partner to allow businesses to use USDC for near real-time funding of cross-border payouts, while end recipients continue to receive fiat currency.
In a separate pilot conducted in September, Lloyds Banking Group settled $750,000 in payment obligations with Visa using USDC. The bank acquired the stablecoins through the Archax exchange to facilitate transactions over a weekend period.
While stablecoins offer 24/7 funding capabilities, they introduce new operational requirements, including custody, compliance, and foreign exchange processes. The ultimate impact on working capital depends on whether firms can effectively lower their total liquidity commitments.
