stable

Stablecoins Explode into 2025: Inside Visa and JPMorgan’s Quiet Pilots Reshaping Global Banking

by

Stablecoins Explode into 2025: Visa and JPMorgan’s Quiet Pilots That Could Reshape Traditional Banking

Stablecoins have shifted from crypto sideshow to institutional priority. In 2025, players like Visa and JPMorgan are no longer just experimenting at the edges—they are quietly wiring stablecoins and blockchain into the plumbing of global finance.[1][3] Rather than a sudden collapse of traditional banking, these pilots point to a slower but potentially profound rewiring of how money moves, who controls deposits, and where profits accrue.

From Speculation to Infrastructure: Why 2025 Is Different

For most of the last decade, stablecoins were associated with crypto trading, offshore issuers, and regulatory uncertainty. That picture is changing quickly:

  • Regulatory clarity in the U.S. via the GENIUS Act (mid‑2025) created a federal framework for stablecoin issuers, including capital and oversight standards, giving large institutions confidence to launch real products.[1][2]
  • Institutional tokenization accelerated, exemplified by BlackRock’s blockchain‑based tokenized U.S. Treasury fund (BUIDL), which reached billions in assets and validated blockchain rails for conservative, yield‑bearing instruments.[1]
  • Payments networks and megabanks—not just crypto‑natives—are now leading the buildout of stablecoin infrastructure, aiming directly at cross‑border payments, treasury, and settlement.[1][3]

In other words, stablecoins are becoming financial infrastructure, not just trading chips.

Visa’s Stablecoin Playbook: From Payouts to Core Settlement

1. Stablecoin settlement pilots go mainstream

Visa began testing USDC stablecoin settlement with select partners several years ago. In 2025, those experiments matured into a multi‑region pilot footprint. As of late 2025, Visa disclosed active stablecoin settlement pilots across Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), Asia Pacific (AP), and CEMEA—and then expanded this capability to the United States.[3]

The new U.S. expansion allows American issuers and acquirers to directly settle Visa obligations in USDC, effectively bringing a dollar‑pegged stablecoin into Visa’s core settlement operations.[3] That is a major step: it moves stablecoins from the periphery (rewards, niche wallets) into the beating heart of card network settlement.

2. Cross‑border pre‑funding: freeing trapped capital

Another Visa pilot focuses on a stubborn problem in corporate treasury: pre‑funding cross‑border accounts. Traditionally, businesses must maintain dormant balances in multiple countries to ensure payments can go out on time, tying up millions in low‑yield cash.[1][2]

Visa’s cross‑border pre‑funding pilot lets firms hold value in stablecoins (such as USDC or EURC) instead of maintaining fiat balances in local accounts.[1][2]

  • Businesses keep funds in a yield‑bearing instrument (e.g., short‑term Treasuries backing a stablecoin) until a payment is needed.[1][2]
  • When a cross‑border payment is triggered, the stablecoins are converted and settled almost instantly via Visa’s network.[1][2]
  • This cuts the opportunity cost of idle cash and reduces friction from time zones and bank operating hours.

Visa executives explicitly tied the timing of this pilot to the GENIUS Act, noting that the law provided the accounting and regulatory clarity needed for large corporates and banks to participate.[1][2]

3. Stablecoin payouts for workers and creators

On the consumer and gig‑economy side, Visa launched a stablecoin payout pilot under its Visa Direct program.[4] Traditionally, Visa Direct sends funds to a recipient’s card, with money ultimately landing in their bank account. The new pilot routes payouts—such as for freelancers, gig workers, or creators—directly to a stablecoin wallet.[4]

Key features include:

  • Payers still fund transactions in fiat; the conversion to a stablecoin like USDC happens in the background.[4]
  • Recipients receive funds in minutes, not days, and avoid dependence on bank operating hours or local clearing delays.[4]
  • The payout can be more globally interoperable—especially attractive to cross‑border workers paid by platforms.

Visa positions this as extending access and speed, rather than bypassing banks entirely.[2][4]

JPMorgan’s On‑Chain Deposit Tokens: Banking Goes Native to Blockchain

While Visa focuses on payments rails, JPMorgan is moving traditional banking liabilities directly onto public blockchains.

In late 2025, JPMorgan rolled out its dollar‑backed deposit token, JPMD, on Coinbase’s Ethereum layer‑2 network after successful test transactions with institutional partners including B2C2, Coinbase, and Mastercard.[5] JPMD represents tokenized bank deposits—essentially a blockchain‑native claim on money held at JPMorgan.

This is distinct from a third‑party stablecoin in two crucial ways:

  • The token is a direct claim on JPMorgan deposits, not on assets held by an external issuer.
  • It is aimed squarely at institutional clients who need 24/7, on‑chain settlement for trading, collateral, and payments.[5]

Alongside the bank’s existing JPM Coin and its blockchain network Onyx, JPMD signals that large banks are preparing for a future where core banking products—deposits, liquidity, collateral—circulate natively on programmable, public or permissioned blockchains.

Do These Pilots Threaten Traditional Banking Overnight?

The headline claim that stablecoins could “collapse” traditional banking overnight is exaggerated—but it points to a real underlying risk. The more accurate framing is that stablecoins, deposit tokens, and tokenized funds are starting to unbundle banking services.

1. Erosion of payment and FX fee income

Cross‑border payments remain a lucrative source of revenue for banks and correspondent networks. Stablecoin rails can:

  • Bypass multiple correspondent banks, reducing fees and time.[1][2]
  • Offer near‑instant settlement 24/7, competing directly with SWIFT‑based transfers.
  • Enable fintechs and platforms to build experiences where users may barely interact with a traditional bank.

When card networks like Visa incorporate stablecoin settlement and pre‑funding, they are effectively building alternative liquidity and FX pipes that can sidestep banks’ slowest, costliest infrastructure.[1][2][3]

2. Deposit disintermediation and the “who holds the cash?” question

Stablecoin issuers and tokenized fund providers hold the underlying cash and Treasuries backing their tokens. As corporate treasurers and funds shift working capital and reserves into these instruments, some deposits may migrate away from traditional bank balance sheets.

At the same time, banks like JPMorgan are responding by issuing their own on‑chain liabilities (like JPMD) to keep deposits within the regulated banking perimeter, even as they move onto blockchain networks.[5] This suggests an adaptation, not a simple displacement.

3. Risk and regulation as governors of speed

Several factors slow any potential “collapse” scenario:

  • Regulatory controls: The GENIUS Act introduces capital standards and oversight for stablecoin issuers, keeping systemically important activity within a supervised framework.[1][2]
  • Trusted intermediaries: Major pilots are being led by firms—Visa, JPMorgan, BlackRock—that already sit at the center of the existing system.[1][3]
  • Integration, not replacement: Visa explicitly frames its strategy as integrating stablecoins into existing banking and card infrastructure rather than building a parallel system.[2][3][6]

This makes a sudden banking collapse unlikely, but it does not remove the long‑term pressure on banks’ fee margins and deposit bases.

What a Stablecoin‑Heavy Future Could Look Like

If current pilots scale over the next three to five years, several structural shifts are plausible:

1. Treasury and working capital management go on‑chain

Corporate treasurers could manage liquidity, FX, and short‑term investments via tokenized funds, bank deposit tokens, and institutional stablecoins. Instead of pre‑funding accounts in dozens of countries, they might hold a mix of:

  • Tokenized U.S. Treasury funds for yield (e.g., BlackRock’s BUIDL‑style products).[1]
  • Regulated dollar‑backed stablecoins for instant payments.[1][2]
  • Bank‑issued tokens like JPMD for direct on‑chain settlement with major counterparties.[5]

This compresses settlement times and reduces working capital locked in the banking system.

2. New competition in global payments and payroll

Platforms and fintechs could plug into Visa’s stablecoin payouts or similar services and offer creators, gig workers, and SMEs instant global earnings in stablecoins.[4] Those users may then choose whether to convert into bank deposits, hold on‑chain, or move into DeFi or tokenized funds.

The result is more competition for banks in consumer payments, FX, and even savings products.

3. Banks as on‑chain service providers

Banks are unlikely to vanish; instead, they may evolve toward roles such as:

  • Issuers of deposit tokens and tokenized credit products.
  • Custodians of digital assets and stablecoins for institutional and retail clients.
  • Liquidity and risk managers for on‑chain markets, providing credit lines, repo, and hedging instruments.

JPMorgan’s JPMD and Onyx initiatives show that large banks plan to operate within this new on‑chain environment, not be displaced by it.[5]

How Should Businesses and Policymakers Respond?

For businesses, the message from 2025’s pilots is clear: stablecoin and tokenization infrastructure is no longer experimental. It is moving into production with major global intermediaries.[1][2][3][6]

  • CFOs and treasurers should evaluate pilots for cross‑border pre‑funding, stablecoin settlement, and tokenized funds as levers to reduce costs and unlock idle capital.[1][2]
  • Fintechs and platforms can leverage stablecoin payout rails to build faster, cheaper payment products for global users.[2][4]
  • Policymakers and regulators must balance innovation and stability—ensuring that if stablecoins become systemically important, they remain fully backed, transparent, and interoperable with the banking system.

Conclusion: Not an Overnight Collapse, but a Structural Shift

Visa’s expanding stablecoin settlement and payout pilots and JPMorgan’s on‑chain deposit tokens do not herald the sudden collapse of traditional banking. Instead, they mark the beginning of a structural shift where the core functions of banks—holding deposits, moving money, managing liquidity—migrate onto programmable, always‑on blockchain rails.

In this world, traditional banks that cling to legacy systems may see fee income erode and deposits leak to tokenized alternatives. Those that embrace stablecoins and tokenization, as Visa and JPMorgan are doing, are positioning themselves not as casualties of disruption but as architects of the next generation of global finance.

Further reading: Visa’s official releases on stablecoin pilots[3][6], reporting on JPMorgan’s on‑chain initiatives, and in‑depth coverage of Visa’s cross‑border and payout pilots[2][4] offer more technical details for practitioners.

References

  1. https://torsion.ai/why-blackrock-visa-and-jpmorgan-are-building-stablecoin-infrastructure-now/
  2. https://www.fintechweekly.com/magazine/articles/visa-stablecoin-cross-border-payments-pilot
  3. https://usa.visa.com/about-visa/newsroom/press-releases.releaseId.21951.html
  4. https://www.ledgerinsights.com/visa-direct-launches-stablecoin-payout-pilot/
  5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkJ6FUR_uQE
  6. https://investor.visa.com/news/news-details/2025/Visa-Unveils-New-Global-Stablecoins-Advisory-Practice/default.aspx

Related Articles