Chilean Seabass Exports to Singapore, Visa Direct, and Stablecoins:
- J. Michael Bradley
- Oct 15, 2025
- 7 min read
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.
