Lloyds and Visa Settle $750K in USDC in Under an Hour

Lloyds Banking Group and Visa have completed a live cross-border pilot that moved $750,000 of USDC across the Atlantic in under an hour. The Block and The Defiant reported the results on September 30 and October 1, 2026.

• The pilot ran for seven days and settled $750,000 in USDC.
• Funds arrived in under an hour, including over a weekend.
• Lloyds ran its own node on the Canton Network, while Visa used a separate public chain.
• It is described as Visa's first stablecoin settlement trial with a major UK banking group.

How did the Lloyds and Visa USDC pilot work?

According to The Block, Lloyds bought USDC through the UK-regulated exchange Archax, booked it through its Corporate Markets branch in Jersey and sent it to Visa in the US. Because the two sides used different blockchains, the trial also tested cross-chain interoperability.

Why does under an hour matter?

Traditional cross-border settlement can take a day or more outside banking hours, according to the reports. A weekend transfer arriving within an hour shows what always-on rails can offer treasury teams. The Block also reports Visa's stablecoin settlement volume has passed a $20 billion annualized run rate as of September 2026, a figure we attribute to that outlet.

What does this mean for payments?

Banks are testing stablecoins for the unglamorous but valuable job of moving money between institutions. Related efforts we have covered include Citi and Coinbase on stablecoin payments and Reap's Visa stablecoin card expansion. The bigger story is interoperability: two different chains cooperating in one settlement.

What is still unknown?

This was a pilot, so no commercial launch date or pricing has been announced, and we found no statement from Lloyds or Visa themselves in the sources we reviewed. Keep up with the next steps in our crypto section.

Sources: The Block — October 1, 2026; The Defiant — September 30, 2026.