VISA Might Add Cryptocurrencies to Its 70 Million Merchants Network

Visa, the world’s leading payment processor with millions of merchants in its network and hundreds of millions of users, might add cryptocurrencies to its payments network.

Visa Jumps on the Crypto Bandwagon

Visa, the multinational financial services corporation, might be joining the cryptocurrency bandwagon.

In the company’s fiscal first-quarter 2021 earning call, the CEO of the company, Al Kelly, said that they are in a position to make cryptocurrencies more “safe, useful, and applicable.”

In this space, we see ways that we can add differentiated value to the ecosystem. And we believe that we are uniquely positioned to help make cryptocurrencies more safe, useful, and applicable for payments through our global presence, our partnership approach and our trusted brand. We think of the crypto market in two segments.

This is where it got even more interesting as the CEO of Visa called Bitcoin digital gold.

First, there are cryptocurrencies that represent new assets such as Bitcoin. Second, there are digital currencies or stable coins that are directly backed by existing fiat currencies. We see all currencies in that first segment as digital gold.

He went on to explain that these are “predominantly held as assets that are not used as a form of payment in a significant way at this point.” He also explained that their strategy would be to work with wallets and exchanges “to enable users to purchase these currencies using their Visa credentials to cash out onto our Visa credential to make a fiat purchase at any of the 70 million merchants where Visa is accepted globally.

Visa, PayPal, Thins Are Looking Serious

Visa is far from being the first company that eyes cryptocurrencies as a legitimate payment method, despite the regulatory hurdles that riddle the space.

Last year, PayPal, the leading online payment processor, said that it will allow its customers to hold, buy, and sell Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies using fiat. Staying true to its words, the company did so and even saw its trading volumes skyrocket.

Indeed, 2020 was a good year for cryptocurrency adoption. Besides the above, we saw big public companies such as MicroStrategy put BTC on their balance sheets, pushing institutional adoption to a new level. As it seems, 2021 will perhaps be no different.