Chilean Seabass Exports to Singapore, Visa Direct, and Stablecoins:

Possibly the Most Important Announcement in Payments

Visa's September 30th announcement of its stablecoin prefunding pilot could be just another PR piece to window-dress what large payments companies do. Corporate comms teams love dropping buzzwords like "blockchain" and "digital transformation" , drawing some eyeballs, maybe supporting the stock price here and there.

Or it could be the most important announcement in the company's history, writing a new chapter in the global pantheon of trade financing akin to the Medici days and letters of credit of the Venetian trade supremacy.

I'm a bit fearful it's the former, but quietly optimistic it will result in the latter. Yes, I’m a former Visa guy - and wish all well. But really, if this announcement of integrating stablecoin into Visa Direct pans out the way it possibly could (or should, IMO), then thousands - perhaps millions- of small businesses will benefit. Significantly. 

And that’s where my optimistic enthusiasm lies - that by fixing international payments, we eliminate one more obstacle impeding small businesses’ growth and sustainability. Ultimately, these companies and their financial partners (banks) can redeploy capital in much more productive ways, enabling more productivity and opportunity for their economies and societies.

The Chilean Seabass Problem

Imagine you're a Singaporean seafood importer. Your clients include some of the most well-known distributors and restaurant chains in Southeast Asia and China. You've just decided to work with a new Chilean supplier of fresh, sustainably caught Chilean sea bass complete with Catch Documentation Scheme accreditation  (Chilean seabass is technically the Patagonian toothfish, but that's not very marketable). You're placing an order for $20,000 USD of premium fish arriving via air freight, transhipped through Sydney or Melbourne.

You have two choices:

Option A: Work with your old bank and its correspondent banking system. Wait 3-5 business days for the wire transfer to clear. Pay $350-700 in fees. Watch your Chilean supplier delay shipment until payment clears because they've been burned before. Hope nothing goes wrong with the SWIFT network across three continents and 15 time zones.

Option B: Use Visa Direct, powered by stablecoin prefunding. Payment arrives the same day. Fees cut by 60-80%. Your supplier ships immediately on that. And here's the kicker—as an SME, you never have to own, manage, or even understand stablecoins if you don't want to.

THE KEY DIFFERENCES - SIDE BY SIDE COMPARISON

Characteristic	Traditional SWIFT	Visa Direct + Stablecoin
Settlement Time	3-5 business days	Minutes to same-day
Cost Estimate	$345-700 (1.7-3.5%)	Likely $100-300 (0.5-1.5%)*
Working Capital Lock-up	Bank must hold SGD/USD in advance	Bank / Fintech uses stablecoin, frees up capital
Operating Hours	Limited by banking hours	24/7/365
Intermediaries	3-4 correspondent banks	Direct via Visa network
FX Risk Window	3-5 days exposure	Minutes (near-instant)
Transparency	Limited visibility	Real-time tracking

*Cost estimate based on typical Visa Direct fees + reduced FX spreads

Which would you choose? The choice seems obvious…

The Innovation Hiding in Plain Sight

Visa Direct isn't new—it processed nearly 10 billion transactions in fiscal 2024, up 38% year-over-year. It's already the backbone for gig economy payouts, insurance disbursements, and P2P transfers. What's new is how Visa is supercharging this existing infrastructure with stablecoin prefunding for cross-border B2B payments.

The innovation lies in what happens behind the scenes. Your Singaporean bank i.e. DBS, OCBC, UOB  (or perhaps a fintech payment partner like Airwallex or Stripe) maintains a pool of USD-pegged stablecoins—think USDC or Visa's own tokenized assets. When you initiate that $20K payment to Chile, instead of the bank needing pre-positioned funds in correspondent accounts across multiple countries, they simply send stablecoins to Visa Direct.

Visa treats those stablecoins as "money in the bank" and immediately releases funds for payout. The Chilean exporter receives Chilean pesos or USD in their regular Banco de Chile account within hours, not days. They don't need a special Visa Direct account, crypto wallet, or blockchain expertise. It shows up like any other international money transfer—except faster and cheaper.

The real breakthrough isn't the technology—blockchain has been around for close to twenty years, and stablecoins for about half that time. It's the business model that makes this accessible to the 99% of companies that aren't multinational corporations.

Why This Actually Matters for SMEs, Banks and Everyone Else

Small and Medium size Enterprises (SMEs) have lots of priorities - worrying about the state of stablecoin adoption is most likely not one of them. However, friction in payments for cross border payments and resulting impact on cash flow, is definitely one of them.

So if Visa Direct can be a spearhead, a galvanizing moment for cross border payments, what are some of the effects?

Capital Efficiency: Traditional cross-border payments require banks to scatter tens of millions of dollars across correspondent accounts in multiple currencies, much of it sitting idle. With stablecoin prefunding, banks can condense that into a single, instantly deployable treasury pool. This capital efficiency translates directly into lower fees and better service for customers.

The Fintech Layer: Here's where it gets interesting for SMEs. You don't need your local bank to be a Visa Direct partner. A fintech such as Stripe (which acquired Bridge, a stablecoin infrastructure company, for over $1 billion) or Airwallex can maintain the stablecoin treasury, handle all the complexity, and offer you a simple interface: "Pay $20K to Chile—arrives today, $85 fee."

You pay in Singapore Dollars from your regular business account. Your Chilean supplier receives pesos in their regular bank account. The stablecoin magic happens entirely in the middle, invisible to both parties.

No Vendor Lock-in: Unlike closed-loop systems (think PayPal, where both parties need accounts), Visa Direct is a push payment rail. Your Chilean exporter just needs a bank account at any reasonably modern bank. No sign-up, no special account, no learning curve.

The Numbers are Adding Up

Stablecoins are already eating into traditional payment volumes. In 2024, stablecoin transactions exceeded $27.6 trillion—more than Visa and Mastercard combined. When Visa moves, others follow. SWIFT announced blockchain-based settlement plans the day after Visa's stablecoin pilot. PayPal is using its PYUSD stablecoin to settle Xoom remittances. Mastercard is reported to be in advanced discussions to acquire stablecoin infrastructure providers.

Back to Visa for a moment: Visa's Commercial & Money Movement Solutions segment processed $1.7 trillion in volume in fiscal 2024. Visa Direct alone is estimated to have generated roughly $1 billion in revenue. But the real payments opportunity is staggering—Visa estimates the total addressable market for new payment flows (B2B, P2P, G2C) at $200 trillion annually. For Visa - and Mastercard, B2B payments represent the next leg of growth. In developed markets credit card “share of wallet”  has reached peak saturation and the cash conversion theme has effectively stalled as an engine of growth.

Hype or for Real: The Flywheel of Momentum

When a payment giant with Visa's scale validates stablecoin infrastructure, several things happen:

Regulatory Tailwinds: It's harder for regulators to dismiss stablecoins as fringe crypto when Visa is integrating them into mainstream finance. The U.S. GENIUS Act, Europe's MiCA framework, and Singapore's progressive stablecoin regulations are creating the guardrails needed for mass adoption.

Fintech Acceleration: Companies like Conduit (processing $10 billion annually for import-export businesses in Africa and Latin America), Airwallex, and Wise will rush to integrate. Within 18 months, I'd bet we'll see major announcements from these players offering "instant global payments" powered by stablecoin rails underneath.

Bank Adaptation or Obsolescence: Traditional banks face a choice—invest in this infrastructure or watch fintech partners capture the most profitable cross-border payment flows. The economics are too compelling to ignore.

A Roadmap for Your Fintech (or Seafood Import business) 

If you're running a Fintech company and focused on  SMEs engaged in international trade, here's what's coming (yes, being optimistic here!):

Phase 1 (Now-2026): Limited pilots with select Visa partners. If you're lucky enough to be in a corridor with good coverage (U.S., EU, Singapore, Chile, parts of Africa and Latin America), you might already have access through a fintech partner.

Phase 2 (2026-2027): Broad rollout as fintechs integrate stablecoin-powered payments. This becomes a standard offering alongside traditional wires, with clear pricing and speed advantages.

Phase 3 (2027+): It's just how cross-border payments work. The blockchain layer becomes as invisible as the TCP/IP protocols powering your email. You choose "express international payment" and don't think twice about what's happening underneath.

The practical implications are tangible: Better working capital management. Faster inventory turnover. Ability to negotiate better terms with suppliers because you can pay quickly. Reduced FX risk exposure during the payment window.

Difficult to be a Contrarian on Stablecoins

Is this a bubble? Maybe. We've seen massive hype cycles before—remember when blockchain was going to revolutionize everything from supply chains to voting? Most of those applications fizzled.

But cross-border payments are different. The pain points are real, quantifiable, and expensive. Businesses lose $1.4 trillion annually to payment friction, according to Deloitte. When you can cut settlement time from 3-5 days to hours and reduce fees by 60-80%, that's not hype—that's captured value.

The risk isn't that stablecoins won't work for payments. It's that we're betting on a specific implementation or that regulatory headwinds reverse the momentum. But with Visa, PayPal, and others making multi-billion dollar commitments, my view is that the die is cast.

It’s not just Visa - Winds of Change are Blowing

Visa's stablecoin pilot isn't revolutionary because it uses blockchain;  it's revolutionary because it makes sophisticated treasury management and instant global settlement accessible to businesses of any size, without requiring them to become crypto experts.

Our Singaporean seafood importer can pay the Chilean supplier the same day. The Chilean exporter can ship with confidence. Both parties use their regular bank accounts and familiar interfaces. And somewhere in between, stablecoins are quietly (and quickly)  making global trade faster, cheaper, and more efficient.

In the Medici era, the principal innovation of commerce financing was letters of credit. In our era, it is shaping up to be stablecoin-powered instant settlement. Despite centuries and technologies apart, the idea of each  is the same: reducing friction in global trade, creating enormous value for those who figure it out first.

So, let’s hope Visa’s PR announcement on Visa Direct and stablecoin accelerates a transformation that has already begun. For Visa - and everyone else - it’s time to figure it out.