Lloyds and Visa settle $750,000 using USDC in live cross-border pilot

Lloyds Banking Group and Visa have completed a live seven-day pilot settling $750,000 in cross-border US dollar obligations using the USDC stablecoin. Sourced via UK-regulated exchange Archax, the funds reached Visa in under an hour, including over the weekend, bypassing traditional banking delays. The trial successfully demonstrated interoperability between Lloyds' node on the private Canton Network and a public blockchain supported by Visa, signaling a shift toward flexible, 24/7 corporate liquidity management.

Overview of the pilot

• ▪Lloyds Banking Group and Visa completed a live seven-day pilot settling $750,000 in US dollar payment obligations using the USDC stablecoin, concluding on September 30, 2026
• ▪The Lloyds Banking Group and Visa $750,000 pilot marked the first stablecoin settlement trial between Visa and a major UK banking group

Technical execution of the pilot

• ▪Transactions in the Lloyds Banking Group and Visa $750,000 pilot were booked through Lloyds' Corporate Markets branch in Jersey and settled with Visa in the United States, focusing specifically on inter-institution settlement rather than customer payment execution
• ▪The Lloyds Banking Group and Visa $750,000 pilot tested interoperability across different blockchain environments, with Lloyds operating its own node on the Canton Network and Visa supporting settlement on a separate public blockchain

Benefits of the digital settlement

• ▪Rob Cameron, Visa's UK and Ireland Group Country Manager, stated that the Lloyds Banking Group and Visa $750,000 pilot demonstrated how stablecoins can operate alongside existing banking infrastructure to offer institutions more settlement options
• ▪Peter Left, Lloyds' Head of Digital Assets, stated that digital settlement provides corporate clients with better visibility into liquidity, greater operational flexibility, and faster international payments
• ▪During the seven-day Lloyds and Visa $750,000 pilot, funds reached Visa in under one hour, including on weekends, whereas traditional cross-border settlement can take a day or more when initiated outside banking hours

Lloyds' digital asset exploration

• ▪Lloyds Banking Group is exploring digital assets and tokenised money as potential infrastructure for moving value between businesses and financial institutions
• ▪Lloyds Banking Group was among six major UK banks that began a live pilot of tokenized sterling deposits in 2025

Debatable claims

• ▪Financial institutions should settle digital assets on public blockchains rather than private networks
• ▪Tokenized deposits are a better settlement solution for banks than dollar-pegged stablecoins
• ▪Weekend settlement capability is a critical requirement for modern corporate treasury
• ▪Stablecoins are a superior alternative to traditional interbank settlement systems