Earlier today major credit card provider Visa announced that they too were joining the cryptocurrency revolution! Well, that’s not EXACTLY what they said but they did announce that they made their first settlement payment in U.S. Dollar Coin (USDC).
Mainstream Financials, Meet Cryptocurrencies
Digital asset bank Anchorage, Visa and Crypto.com joined forces to complete the first transaction this month, sending USDC to Visa’s Ethereum address at Anchorage.
Visa’s decision to branch out into digital currencies is yet another good sign for the likes of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency, supporting the growing interest of alternative mediums of exchange.
Cryptocurrencies Bring Us Closer To Financial Freedom
Jack Forestell, Executive Vice President and Chief Product Officer said,
“The announcement today marks a major milestone in our ability to address the needs of Fintech’s managing their business in a stablecoin or cryptocurrency, and it’s really an extension of what we do every day, securely facilitating payments in all different currencies all across the world.”
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This particular currency, pegged to the U.S. dollar in a 1:1 ratio over the Ethereum blockchain-one of the most actively used, open sourced, blockchains.
Visa’s latest step, which will use the ethereum blockchain, strips out the need to convert digital coin into traditional money in order for the transaction to be settled.
Visa Understands The Potential Of Cryptocurrency
According to BusinessWire Insights,
“Visa has spent the last year establishing a pathway for digital currency settlement within Visa’s existing treasury infrastructure, a platform that moves billions of dollars each day across thousands of institutions in more than 200 markets and 160 currencies.”
The existing process for settling must be done in fiat currency accepted by Visa’s business partners. This means that there would be an additional cost for conversation rates, costing Visa’s partners a portion of their crypto treasury.
Soon, Visa will be implementing an upgrade which will enable partners to settle their obligations using USDC, directly.
The latest evolution of Visa’s cryptocurrency payment system, will use the Ethereum blockchain. This addition will dismiss the need to convert digital currencies into traditional, fiat currencies, in order for the transaction to be settled.
Visa has already partnered with 35 digital currency platforms including Coinbase, Blockfi, Bitpanda, and of course Crypto.com.
The major credit card provider plans to offer this program to more partners later this year.
