Lloyds and Visa are the latest traditional finance firms to test stablecoins for cross-border settlement as digital currencies continue to uncover use cases to perform interoperably.
UK bank Lloyds and Visa have found use cases in how stablecoins can be used for cross-border settlement in under an hour.
Lloyds and Visa announced they completed a seven-day pilot testing how stablecoins can support faster, more transparent cross-border payments through the backend of the transaction.
The pilot saw Lloyds and Visa conduct a series of real-world transactions, focusing on backend settlement using blockchain technology. Both parties tested how stablecoins could be used alongside existing settlement processes, assessing their impact on speed, transparency and operational processes.
The transactions saw several US dollar settlement obligations, of up to $750,000, use USDC to be purchased through UK-regulated digital asset exchange, Archax.
The settlement process was booked through Lloyds’ Corporate Market branch in Jersey, then transferred to Visa’s base in the US. The funds reached Visa in under one hour, this included being settled on a weekend.
Rob Cameron, UK & Ireland Group Country Manager at Visa, said the pilot demonstrated how stablecoins can work within banking infrastructure to settle and work interoperably.
“Businesses increasingly operate across borders and around the clock, but the infrastructure behind the movement of money has not always offered the same flexibility,” said Cameron.
“This pilot with Lloyds shows how stablecoins can work alongside existing banking infrastructure to give financial institutions more choice over how and when they settle funds. Visa’s role is to help make these new forms of money practical, interoperable and trusted at scale.”
Opening new treasury options
Cross-border payments are often slowed down by many different factors, such as settling on domestic and local payment rails, know-your-customer (KYC) checks, intermediary banks, screening checks, etc.
This in turn means it could take several days for a business or merchant to access liquidity when settling cross-border payments, including if they are unable to send transactions across borders on weekends.
In a recent episode of the Payment Expert Podcast, Claire Gates, Global Head of Payment Solutions at Crown Agents Bank, said this process can be “quite complicated”, while also praising stablecoins for their ability to unlock trapped liquidity.
Lloyds and Visa’s pilot found they could give greater flexibility for financial institutions settling with stablecoins for cross-border payments outside traditional banking hours, providing greater visibility of funds, certainty of when funds arrive, and less liquidity tied up waiting for settlement times.
The pilot found potential within stablecoins in being able to operate across several blockchain networks, enabling businesses to access liquidity across a multi-chain blockchain system which affords interoperability.
As part of the test, Lloyds used its own node on the blockchain network Canton, leveraging its privacy capabilities, while Visa supported settlement on a separate public blockchain, finding interoperability across both networks.
The pilot also highlighted how Visa can help reduce the complexity of stablecoin settlement, enabling institutions to explore new payment capabilities through Visa’s global network.
Peter Left, Head of Digital Assets at Lloyds Banking Group, said: “Stablecoins could be particularly valuable for cross-border payments, where moving money between markets, currencies and infrastructure can add time and complexity.”
“We’re seeing how digital money could help make international payments faster, more transparent and more flexible for businesses. Greater visibility and certainty over the movement of funds can transform liquidity management, while interoperability between blockchain networks helps unlock future applications of digital money at scale.”
More (traditional) stablecoin use cases
Stablecoins continue to garner the interest of traditional finance firms as more use cases are being developed, testing how they can be used on regulated, compliant traditional payment rails, alongside the blockchain networks they are programmed on.
Prior to the Lloyds and Visa pilot, Citi and Coinbase announced a partnership this week that will look to leverage one another’s services to enable merchants to convert stablecoins, such as USDC, into their preferred fiat currency.
Citi and Coinbase are also looking to perform bank-account-like functionality to hold, accept and pay funds by converting fiat currencies into their preferred stablecoin.
Research from Reap in August 2026 found that $1.79trn was processed in June in stablecoin settlement according to Visa’s on-chain data.
The use cases being developed in these partnerships and pilots have a common theme in attempts to uncover trapped liquidity related to cross-border payments, as well as catering to business needs for instant settlement.
