What the pilot did
Lloyds Banking Group and Visa have completed a seven-day live pilot in which Lloyds settled US$750,000 of U.S. dollar payment obligations with Visa using a , a digital token designed to hold a steady value against the dollar. Lloyds announced the results on September 30. [1]
The test covered settlement, the behind-the-scenes step in which banks and card networks exchange funds to square up payment activity, rather than how customers pay. Lloyds bought the , USDC, through Archax, a UK-regulated digital asset exchange. The transfers were booked through Lloyds’ Corporate Markets branch in Jersey and sent to Visa in the United States. [1]
Funds reached Visa in under an hour, including over a weekend, according to Lloyds. The bank said traditional cross-border settlement can take a day or more when it starts outside banking hours. [1]
The pilot also crossed blockchain networks. Lloyds used its own node on Canton, a network that lets participants keep transaction details private, while Visa received settlement on a separate public blockchain. Lloyds described it as the first settlement trial between Visa and a major UK banking group. [1]
Why it matters
Settlement between banks and card networks still largely follows banking-hours schedules, so money can sit in transit over weekends and holidays. Lloyds said round-the-clock settlement could give institutions more certainty about when money has arrived and leave less cash tied up waiting. [1]
“Settling $750,000 of live payment obligations between Lloyds and Visa using has allowed us to move beyond theory,” said Peter Left, head of digital assets at Lloyds. Rob Cameron, Visa’s group country manager for the UK and Ireland, said the pilot showed stablecoins can work alongside existing banking infrastructure. [1]
What remains uncertain
The results are as reported by Lloyds; no independent assessment of cost, risk or reliability was published. US$750,000 over seven days is small relative to normal card-settlement volumes, and the companies did not say whether or when the approach would be used in regular operations.