Visa taps Mercuryo to accelerate crypto-to-fiat payments

Visa Inc. said Thursday it has partnered with crypto payments firm Mercuryo to let users convert digital assets into fiat currency and send the proceeds to Visa cards using Visa Direct, the company’s real-time payments network.

Summary

• Visa partnered with crypto payments firm Mercuryo to enable near-instant crypto-to-fiat conversions to Visa debit and credit cards using Visa Direct.
• The integration allows eligible users to receive funds within minutes, improving settlement speed and reducing costs, including for cross-border payments.
• The deal builds on Visa’s expanding digital-asset strategy, including its Stablecoins Advisory Practice and growing stablecoin settlement volumes.

Under the arrangement, eligible Mercuryo users can off-ramp crypto to fiat and receive funds on Visa debit or credit cards, typically within minutes. The companies said the service is designed to reduce costs and speed up settlement compared with traditional conversion and payout methods.

Visa Direct is already used for real-time money movement across brokerage, crypto and digital banking accounts. The tie-up extends that infrastructure to Mercuryo’s users, enabling faster cross-border payouts and access to local currencies.

Visa and Mercuryo said the integration is aimed at simplifying crypto-to-fiat transactions, as payments companies and digital-asset platforms push to make conversions faster and more practical for everyday use.

This isn’t Visa’s first crypto-related initiative. In December, the firm launched a Stablecoins Advisory Practice to provide businesses with strategic insights and tailored recommendations to integrate stablecoins into their operations.

With the stablecoin sector booming and Visa’s own settlement volume hitting a $3.5 billion annualized run rate, the global payments giant aims to unlock new growth opportunities for clients by helping them capitalize on the benefits of stablecoins.

Before that, Visa kicked off a collaboration with Aquanow, which aims to create faster stablecoin settlements and cut down on the old-school bottlenecks of traditional payment systems.