Visa Launches Stablecoin Lending Prefunding via Visa Direct
Visa has launched stablecoin lending prefunding services via its Visa Direct platform, marking a strategic expansion into on-chain lending infrastructure. According to Visa’s report, stablecoin lending volumes have reached $670 billion since 2020, with August 2025 monthly loans hitting $51.7 billion and over 81,000 active borrowers. USDC and USDT dominate the market, and DeFi platforms Aave and Compound account for 89% of on-chain lending volume. Visa will not issue tokens or fund loans but will provide data, compliance, APIs and settlement rails that connect banks and credit funds with programmable lending protocols. Leading projects like Morpho, Credit Coop and Huma Finance already offer competitive yields—4–5% USDC loans, 12–15% merchant financing and over 10% cross-border working capital financing. The report highlights future growth opportunities from tokenized real-world assets, crypto-backed credit cards and on-chain identity lending, paving the way for a 24/7 transparent credit market that bridges traditional finance and digital assets.
Bullish
Visa’s entry into stablecoin lending prefunding via its global payments network legitimizes on-chain lending and is likely to drive higher DeFi volumes. In the short term, this move should boost transaction throughput and liquidity for USDC and USDT, benefiting protocols like Aave and Compound. Over the long term, institutional infrastructure—APIs, compliance and settlement rails—will reduce friction and expand the addressable market for programmable money, reinforcing bullish sentiment across the stablecoin and DeFi sectors.