Visa has initiated a pilot program aimed at enabling freelancers and gig economy workers to receive payments in stablecoins. Building upon Visa’s recent introduction of a cross-border stablecoin project, this new effort aims to explore the feasibility of such payment methods.

Lowering Costs for Businesses

The Visa Direct pilot program allows businesses to fund payouts in fiat currency while disbursing earnings directly to workers’ stablecoin wallets. This initiative follows a previous Visa Direct program that enabled entities to pre-fund accounts in local currencies for cross-border stablecoin payments.

Seeking Quicker and More Reliable Payments

Stablecoins, with their low transaction costs, are particularly useful for high-frequency, low-value payouts—such as those made by gig companies to their workers. Despite limited exploration of stablecoin usage for domestic payments, the Visa project aligns with emerging trends. According to Hugh Thomas from Javelin Strategy & Research, “The use cases for gig workers are probably for solutions like Upwork, Fiverr, Guru and others where U.S. firms outsource work to resources in India and other locations with lower labor costs.” However, the benefits for U.S.-based freelance workers may not be as evident.

Visa’s data shows that these workers value instant access when choosing payment methods. More than half of creators surveyed prioritize immediate access, and 86% have had to use personal funds or credit cards to finance their work. Additionally, Visa found that these workers are already using digital processors and platforms for payments, indicating both comfort with modern technologies and a potential pathway toward wider stablecoin adoption.