The news: Visa Direct will pilot letting businesses and platforms send stablecoin payouts to recipients’ crypto wallets, per a press release. Payees can receive funds in USD-backed stablecoins like USDC. 

Visa also unveiled AI-powered financial tools for creators, assisting with contract evaluation and invoicing to alleviate freelance workplace stressors for creatives.

Why this matters: We anticipate the creator economy to surge 15.8% in 2025, clearing $17.76 billion in revenues. Stablecoin payouts offer a way for creators, freelancers, and gig workers to receive these payments faster amid robust demand for content creation. 

Over half of Gen Zers consider themselves “digital sidehustlers,” per a Credit Karma survey, with 13% earning extra cash from social media content, showcasing a new generational standard for additional cash flow sources.

How to get ahead: Businesses enrolling in Visa Direct can cement loyalty with contractors through reliable payouts—a fleeting reality for most creators. 

Only 51% of gig workers receive payments within one week to a month of completing an assignment, per Visa’s 2025 Creator Economy Report. Another 52% of freelancers receive global payments, further underscoring stablecoin’s utility.

Our take: The importance of the creator economy is growing for ecommerce. Over half of US social shoppers follow creators or influencers, and almost half (49.5%) of all US social shoppers have made a purchase based on creator content. 

Instituting quick and reliable stablecoin payouts for freelancers can help them retain key marketing contractor team members on social media platforms. However, crypto adoption has met resistance: Per a Kansas City Fed report, the largest predictor for cryptocurrency payments is payee preference, far outstripping speed, privacy, or cost. Our forecast predicts similarly tiny adoption rates within the US population, at just 1.3% of adults.