Lloyds and Visa test stablecoin settlement with $750,000 live pilot
Updated: 6 days ago
Lloyds Banking Group and Visa have completed a seven-day live pilot in which they settled US$750,000 of payment obligations using USDC, a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar. Lloyds announced the Lloyds Visa stablecoin settlement pilot on 30 September 2026, saying funds reached Visa in the United States in under an hour, including over a weekend.
A stablecoin is a digital token designed to hold a steady value against a currency. The test is notable because a major commercial bank used one to settle with a global card network, rather than a crypto exchange or fintech moving customer money.
What Lloyds and Visa settled in the USDC pilot
Lloyds said the pilot settled 750,000 US dollars of live payment obligations over seven days. Payment obligations are amounts owed between the two firms that have to be settled in money.
The bank said funds reached Visa in under an hour, including at the weekend, when conventional banking channels are closed. It said traditional cross-border processes can take a day or more. The release does not give the dates of the seven days.
Peter Left, head of digital assets at Lloyds Banking Group, said: “Settling $750,000 of live payment obligations between Lloyds and Visa using stablecoins has allowed us to move beyond theory and test these capabilities in a real-world setting.”
How Archax and the Canton Network fit into the settlement chain
Lloyds bought the USDC through Archax, a UK-regulated digital asset exchange. The settlement obligation was booked through Lloyds' Corporate Markets branch in Jersey before the USDC was sent to Visa in the US.
Lloyds ran its own node on the Canton Network, a blockchain built for regulated institutions. Visa supported settlement on a separate public blockchain, which the release does not name. The pilot therefore tested whether settlement can work across two different networks.
What the pilot does and does not show about 24/7 settlement
Rob Cameron, group country manager for UK and Ireland at Visa, said: “This pilot with Lloyds shows how stablecoins can work alongside existing banking infrastructure to give financial institutions more choice over how and when they settle funds.”
The evidence is real but small: 750,000 dollars over seven days, described by Lloyds as a pilot. The release gives no volumes for a live service, no cost comparison and no date for a rollout. Lloyds describes the work as part of a wider exploration of how digital assets and tokenised forms of money could improve the movement of value between businesses and financial institutions.
USDC is a US dollar token, so the pilot does not test a sterling stablecoin. Banks have separately tested a different model, tokenised deposits, which are bank deposits recorded on a blockchain, as covered in a report on live tokenised deposit payments on Swift's ledger.
What to watch is whether a bank-to-card-network pilot becomes a routine settlement option. That turns on how regulators treat a stablecoin inside a bank's settlement chain, a question the release does not address. London Stock Exchange Group's governance seat on the Canton Network shows the same network drawing other London institutions.
Key takeaways
Lloyds Banking Group and Visa settled US$750,000 of live payment obligations using USDC in a seven-day pilot announced on 30 September 2026.
Funds reached Visa in the United States in under an hour, including over a weekend, according to Lloyds.
Lloyds bought the USDC through Archax, a UK-regulated digital asset exchange, and ran its own node on the Canton Network.
The release gives no rollout date or volumes, and the pilot used a US dollar stablecoin rather than a sterling one.
Sources
Background: Visa's stablecoin settlement programme
Visa has been building towards this for several years. It first experimented with USDC settlement in 2021, and on 16 December 2025 it launched USDC settlement for US banks, with Cross River Bank and Lead Bank as the first participants, settling over the Solana blockchain. At that point Visa said its monthly stablecoin settlement volume had passed a $3.5 billion annualised run rate.
By 29 April 2026 the run rate had reached $7 billion, according to The Block, and the programme had grown to nine supported blockchains, Canton among them. The Lloyds pilot is therefore an extension of an established Visa service to a UK bank, rather than a first test of the idea.
Lloyds has its own track record with the same partners. In January 2026 Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets used tokenised sterling deposits issued by Lloyds Bank on the Canton Network to buy a tokenised gilt from Archax. Markets Media reported it as a first for sterling deposits on a public blockchain, with the deposits remaining covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
What it means for UK founders
For UK payments and tokenisation startups, the pilot shows where large incumbents are directing effort: settlement between institutions, not consumer payments. It also shows the stack involved. A UK-regulated venue to acquire the stablecoin, an institutional network for the bank's side, and a card network willing to receive funds on a public chain. Each layer is a potential partner or integration point for smaller firms.
UK rules for stablecoins are still being put in place. The FCA published its final policy statements for the cryptoasset regime in June 2026, the Bank of England published its policy statement on systemic sterling stablecoins on 22 June 2026, and the new regime comes into force on 25 October 2027. The FCA authorisation window runs from 30 September 2026 to 28 February 2027. Founders whose products will hold or move stablecoins for clients may want to take professional advice on whether they need authorisation.
Key facts at a glance
2021: Visa first experiments with USDC settlement.
16 December 2025: Visa launches USDC settlement for US banks, starting with Cross River Bank and Lead Bank on Solana.
January 2026: Lloyds uses tokenised sterling deposits on Canton to buy a tokenised gilt from Archax.
29 April 2026: Visa's stablecoin settlement run rate reaches $7 billion a year across nine blockchains.
30 September 2026: Lloyds announces the $750,000 USDC pilot with Visa.
25 October 2027: the new UK cryptoasset regime comes into force.
Further reading
Frequently asked questions
What did the Lloyds and Visa stablecoin settlement pilot involve?
Lloyds Banking Group and Visa settled US$750,000 of live payment obligations using USDC, a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar, over a seven-day pilot. Lloyds announced the pilot on 30 September 2026.
How quickly did USDC payments reach Visa in the Lloyds pilot?
Lloyds said funds reached Visa in the United States in under an hour, including over a weekend when conventional banking channels are closed. It said traditional cross-border processes can take a day or more.
What role did Archax and the Canton Network play in the Lloyds and Visa pilot?
Lloyds bought the USDC through Archax, a UK-regulated digital asset exchange, and ran its own node on the Canton Network, a blockchain built for regulated institutions. Visa supported settlement on a separate public blockchain, which the release does not name.
Has Lloyds announced a rollout date for stablecoin settlement with Visa?
No. The Lloyds release gives no rollout date, no volumes for a live service and no cost comparison, and describes the work as a pilot.
Did the Lloyds and Visa pilot test a sterling stablecoin?
No. The pilot used USDC, a US dollar token, so it did not test a sterling stablecoin.
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