Visa and Mastercard announced on October 15 that they are introducing commercial pathways for businesses to fund payments using USDC, the USD-backed stablecoin. Visa’s approach routes cross-border payouts through Inyo Global, which will prefund Visa Direct transactions with USDC for eligible clients and partners. Inyo serves money transmitters, fintechs, banks and payment processors, allowing them to use existing APIs to move funds in near real time without relying on traditional funding windows. Mastercard’s route connects stablecoin balances to local-currency bank payouts via BVNK, a stablecoin infrastructure provider. Under this model, a business can hold a stablecoin balance while the recipient receives funds in their local currency through a bank account, separating the funding mechanism from the payee’s use of crypto. The integration enables businesses to contract directly with BVNK through its portal or API, embedding the service under their own brand while BVNK manages customer onboarding. Nuvei and Marqeta are slated to be among the first companies to adopt the platform during its rollout. Mastercard projects that the service will eventually cover more than 40 currencies across over 200 countries and territories by 2027, though this remains an expansion target. The announcements do not disclose current stablecoin transaction volumes or quantified fee savings. For participating businesses, the change offers an additional funding option that can be used to deliver payments through conventional banking channels.