Visa has selected cross-border payments firm Nium as its first partner in a pilot under Singapore’s BLOOM initiative. The project examines whether regulated stablecoins can settle payment obligations seven days a week, including weekends and public holidays, for institutional cross-border flows.

The trial focuses on connecting conventional payment systems with stablecoin rails while retaining existing security and compliance controls. It targets the settlement layer between financial institutions rather than how customers initiate transactions.

Pilot Scope and Objectives

Regulated stablecoins backed by the U.S. dollar and the euro form the basis of the test. Specific tokens have not been named. The companies aim to determine whether these assets can reduce delays tied to traditional banking-day cycles and give participating institutions faster access to funds.

Visa stated that stablecoins could make payment flows more programmable, allowing institutions to manage settlement outside normal hours while continuing to rely on the network’s security systems and compliance framework.

Kim added that Visa is examining how stablecoins can complement existing systems while preserving the security, resilience and compliance standards that support global commerce.

BLOOM Framework and Participants

BLOOM is a Monetary Authority of Singapore program introduced in 2025. It develops settlement systems built around tokenized bank liabilities and regulated stablecoins. The initiative builds on earlier Project Orchid work that included more than ten trials exploring practical digital-money applications.

Named participants at the program’s outset included Circle, DBS, OCBC, Partior, Stripe and UOB. The framework supports institutional use cases such as corporate treasury, trade finance and automated payments. An earlier BLOOM test involved Ripple and supply-chain finance firm Unloq using RLUSD on the XRP Ledger to link settlement with shipment verification and financing conditions.

Visa’s participation adds a global card network and a specialist in cross-border payments, with particular attention to interoperability between traditional rails and stablecoin settlement.

Mohan said pairing established payment networks with programmable digital currencies could provide financial institutions with new settlement options. He noted that the work seeks to establish interoperability while embedding compliance requirements directly in the settlement process.

Visa’s Existing Stablecoin Settlement Capabilities

The pilot extends infrastructure Visa has already developed. Its stablecoin settlement network spans nine blockchain networks, including Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, Base, Canton, Arc, Tempo, Avalanche and Stellar. An expansion in April brought the annualized stablecoin settlement run rate to about $7 billion, a 50 percent increase from the prior quarter.

By June, issuing banks in Visa’s onchain programs could already settle seven days a week. The company has been working to extend that capability to acquirers. Visa supports multiple tokens, including USDC and euro-backed EURC, under a multi-coin, multi-chain approach. Chief executive Ryan McInerney has stated that the company does not intend to select a single stablecoin winner.

For Nium, the project continues earlier efforts. In April the firm integrated USDC through Coinbase to support cross-border business payouts across more than 190 countries, enabling clients to fund payments on demand rather than maintain prefunded balances in every market.

Details Still to Be Announced

Visa and Nium have not disclosed a launch date, additional participating institutions beyond themselves, or expected transaction volumes. The pilot remains at an early stage, with the regulatory framework and high-level objectives public while operational specifics stay private.

The companies had previously announced seven-day settlement capability using USDC outside the BLOOM framework. The current pilot places that work inside the Monetary Authority of Singapore program and expands the scope to include euro-denominated stablecoins.