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Visa announced Wednesday that transactions via Visa “crypto” cards exceeded$1 billion in the first six months of the year. The global leader in payments also said that it is partnering with 50 leading crypto platforms “to launch card programs that make it easy to convert and spend digital currency at 70 million merchants worldwide.”
Chief Financial Officer of Visa, Vasant Prabhu appeared on CNBC and said:
“We see a lot of volume on our [network] of people buying cryptocurrencies at these various regulated exchanges and as far as we can see that trend continues.”
Prabhu added:
“We are doing a lot to create an ecosystem that makes cryptocurrency more usable and more like any other currency. People are exploring ways in which they can use cryptocurrencies for things they would use normal currencies for.”
Some of the crypto platforms that Visa is working with are FTX, Blockfi and Circle. Its Fintech Fast Track Program is focused on making cryptocurrency more practical for consumer and business spending.
By partnering up with the crypto exchanges, clients can easily convert and spend cryptocurrencies at 70 million merchants worldwide. Importantly, they can do also at those that do not accept digital assets, with Visa effectively bridging the gap. Some of the features being offered are crypto rewards in forms of cashbacks.
Head of Crypto at Visa, Cuy Sheffield, said the company is positive for the second half of the year and looking to surpass the more than $1 billion spent in the first half:
The merchants don’t have to change anything. It will be the same as any other Visa transaction to them. But on the backend, the crypto assets are instantly converted into fiat.
Visa’s strategical choice to establish stronger ties in the crypto space were to be expected. Not too long ago Chief Executive officer Alan Murray said that the possibility is there for cryptocurrencies to become “extremely mainstream” in five years.
Visa had previously announced to use the USD stable coin to settle transactions on its network.
Sheffield previously said about this
“We see increasing demand from consumers across the world to be able to access, hold and use digital currencies and we’re seeing demand from our clients to be able to build products that provide that access for consumers.”
Looking at the increasing demand, the majority is expected to come from Latin America, where consumers want access to cryptocurrencies not just as a hedge against inflating national currencies, but as a means of transaction. According to a Visa survey conducted in February, 25% of all credit card users in Latin America would be interested to experiment with cryptocurrencies if payment processors gave them that opportunity.