Nium has announced its participation in Visa’s stablecoin settlement pilot, marking a significant milestone in the evolution of cross-border payments. The move allows the company to settle transactions using select stablecoins, including Circle’s USDC, across supported blockchains.
Based in Singapore, Nium said that integrating stablecoin settlement into its operations represents a step forward in modernising its money movement infrastructure. The initiative aims to make cross-border settlements faster, more secure, and programmable, moving away from legacy systems that often cause delays and inefficiencies.
By adopting Visa’s stablecoin framework, Nium will leverage blockchain technology to streamline settlement processes. This shift from traditional batch-based systems to digital stablecoin flows is designed to reduce costs and friction while addressing long-standing challenges such as weekend cut-offs, time zone discrepancies, and slow reconciliation periods.
Improving the speed of global commerce
Alex Johnson, Chief Payments Officer at Nium, described the partnership as a transformative step in enterprise-grade money movement. “Nium’s participating in the Visa pilot marks a new chapter for enterprise-grade money movement,” he said. “Businesses have long been constrained by settlement cycles that move on the cadence of clearing schemes and banks, not on the cadence of global commerce. By settling with Visa via stablecoins, we’re aligning payments to the speed of the internet, not the speed of traditional rails.”
The collaboration reflects a growing industry trend towards digital currencies and stablecoins as tools for faster and more predictable money movement. Visa’s initiative is designed to enable partners to settle up to seven days a week, providing greater flexibility and reliability in international payment flows.
“Stablecoins are increasingly becoming a critical tool in modern money movement,” said Nischint Sanghavi, Head of Digital Currencies for Asia Pacific at Visa. “Our stablecoin settlement pilot is designed to give partners predictable settlement capabilities up to seven days per week, to keep pace with today’s constantly evolving global commerce environment. We’re excited to expand our collaboration with Nium to bring these new capabilities to more participants in the ecosystem.”
Expanding digital settlement capabilities
Nium will utilise its existing real-time cross-border payment infrastructure to participate in the Visa pilot. This approach enables its customers and fintech partners to access faster digital settlement channels without the need to develop their own stablecoin systems.
The initiative builds upon Nium and Visa’s long-standing partnership to modernise global financial transactions. Over the years, the two companies have collaborated to deliver seamless, real-time payment solutions for enterprises and platforms worldwide.
Nium’s infrastructure currently supports transactions in over 100 currencies across more than 190 countries, with real-time capabilities in 100 of those markets. The platform enables funds to be disbursed to accounts, wallets, and cards, and allows for local fund collection in 40 markets. Its card issuance business spans 34 countries, and the company holds regulatory licences in more than 40 jurisdictions to ensure compliance and streamlined integration.
Visa, a global leader in digital payments, continues to advance its mission to connect consumers, businesses, and governments through secure and innovative payment technologies. Its ongoing collaboration with partners like Nium underscores its commitment to expanding access and improving the efficiency of global money movement.
