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Visa Is The Latest Platform To Steer Towards The Crypto Industry

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After Paypal, Visa seems to be jumping onto the crypto bandwagon.

It took a lot for the crypto industry to shun off its association with the dark net. With the value of the overall industry surging to a high of a trillion dollars, several mainstream companies have been getting into the crypto-verse. Paypal recently won the hearts of several crypto lovers by adding support to an array of digital assets. While that further insinuated a crypto rally, Visa’s CEO recently revealed that Visa could be following the trail of Paypal and adding support for certain assets.

The CEO of Visa, Alfred Kelly recently addressed the fiscal Q1 2021 earnings call of Visa. In the same, Kelly spoke about the crypto industry. He went on to reveal that cryptocurrencies were going to make a debut on the payments platform.

While Visa has already been supporting an array of crypto platforms, Kelly suggested that the payments giant hopes to make cryptocurrencies safer to use. He added,

“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.”

Previously, the payments platform had partnered with Facebook for its crypto venture, Libra [now renamed as Diem]. However, Visa backed out as the regulatory pressure around the project prevailed. Kelly further pointed out that digital assets would have a strong presence in global financial scene. “We think of digital currencies running on public blockchains as additional networks just like RTP or ACH networks, so we see them as part of our network of networks strategy,” Kelly suggested.

Furthermore, Kelly affirmed that cryptocurrencies would eventually make it to the Visa network as it already supports over 160 fiat currencies. He said,

“It goes without saying, to the extent a specific digital currency becomes a recognized means of exchange, there’s no reason why we cannot add it to our network, which already supports over 160 currencies today.”

Bitcoin Briefly Transcends Alibaba After Skyrocketing Above $34k

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Bitcoin underwent a correction to $30,215 shortly after smashing a fresh all-time high on the 12th anniversary of its network being created. With this, the world’s premier crypto-asset went on to break several other records as well. One of the most prominent ones has to be Bitcoin surpassing Chinese multinational technology company Alibaba.

According to AssetDash’s chart for ‘Top Assets by Market Cap’, the leading cryptocurrency briefly crossed Alibaba to score the top 8th position on the ladder. During this short-lived tryst, the cryptocurrency went on to challenge the US electric vehicle giant, Tesla which was seated at the 7th position.

As Bitcoin broke $30k, Jim Bianco, popular macro strategist, tweeted,

“*BITCOIN EXTENDS RALLY TO TOP $30,000 FOR THE FIRST TIME. Bitcoin first passed $20,000 on December 16, and $25,000 on December 26. Now over $31,000 50+% gain in less than 16 days! Bitcoin makes TSLA look like it is standing still.”

Having quadrupled in terms of its price during 2020, the crypto began 2021 with a bang as it breached through the $30,000 mark for the first time ever, in fact, in less than three weeks ago to be specific, after first trading above $20,000. Just four days into 2021 and BTC has already exhibited an extension of its mainstream recognition, which might be held as a guarantee for a long-term bullish trend.

The latest pullback of more than 12% over the past day, from a market cap of over $636 billion to the current $563 billion drove the cryptocurrency to the 10th position. However, it continued to rank well above the financial service giants such as Visa and Mastercard.

Will Bitcoin be able to resume this?

It is very likely that Bitcoin could be, in the coming days, will be able to take over Alibaba once more. The very reason why it seems plausible is that more and more anxious institutions and corporations are on a buying spree of more and more BTC. Hence, the scenario for not just BTC but also the collective crypto market cap is getting more bullish by the second. It is not just the high-net individuals that have played their part, the retail FOMO was also important in this rally.

It is not just Bitcoin that reigns in the charts..

Apart from Bitcoin, the only other cryptocurrency that was found among the top 100 assets by market cap was Ethereum. Thanks to its overwhelming rally of 15% over the past 24-hours, the altcoin made it to 93rd position just above the British multinational investment bank and financial services holding company, HSBC Holdings.

Visa To Roll Out Credit Card That Rewards Bitcoin To Its Users

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PayPal steered the world’s attention to itself with its support for crypto. Visa seems to be jumping on the bandwagon with its latest announcement. Several mainstream companies have been veering into the crypto-verse following the price movement of crypto assets. As the value of these crypto-assets has been on the upside, the entire globe seems to be taking an interest in these assets.

Visa Teams Up With BlockFi For Its Latest Initiative

As per a recent report by Bloomberg, a New York-based crypto company, BlockFi was joining hands with payments giant, Visa to roll out a credit card that rewards Bitcoin to its users. The latest move comes in light of the mainstream adoption of crypto.

Bitcoin was lauded by many for its price movement over the past few days. As the king coin continued to woo several into the industry, Visa was definitely taken aboard by the coin. The users of this latest credit card would be presented with rewards in Bitcoin, instead of cash or airline miles. The users of the yet to be launched credit card would garner a 1.5% of back in Bitcoin as well as a lump sum of $250 in BTC. This is, however, valid only if the users spend over $3000 during the initial three months.

BlockFi in its announcement stated the intention of launching the Bitcoin Rewards Credit Card. The announcement further read,

“We hope this card will be a valuable personal financial tool for our clients to earn bitcoin while making everyday purchases. Additionally, we hope it helps expose more people to bitcoin and ultimately creates more bitcoin owners.”

The card will reportedly be issued by Evolve Bank & Trust with a $200 annual fee. While the credit card is limited to the citizens of the US, the platform intends to garner more users outside the US through its waiting list option. The waiting list will be made public by January and the platform would begin shipping cards by next year.

Zac Prince, chief executive officer and founder at BlockFi, spoke about the same and said,

“We’re excited to add credit cards to our suite of products and expand Bitcoin’s accessibility to a broader set of consumers.”

Visa Sheds Light On Its Exit From The Libra Project

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The crypto-verse is luring in several mainstream platforms into exploring the prospects of cryptocurrencies. After payments giant, PayPal expressed its interest in crypto, another popular financial service company, Visa seems to have jumped the bandwagon.

In a recent interview with Forbes, Cuy Sheffield, the senior director, head pf crypto at Visa along with Terry Angelos, SVP global head of fintech at Visa addressed several elements and elaborated on the incorporation of crypto in Visa. Sheffield pointed out that, Visa was working on both the product as well as the research side of digital currency. Despite, this the platform is reportedly yet to discuss new strategies.

Back in February 2020, San-Fransico’s prominent cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase revealed its association with Visa by unveiling the Coinbase Card. This card is a Visa debit card that permitted users to withdraw their cryptocurrencies. The entire partnership put both the parties under the crypto spotlight as it was the first of its kind.  Revealing that Visa had onboarded about 25 companies, Angelos added,

“We are seeing significant interest in demand from crypto companies that want to work with Visa and connect their clients to our network of 60-plus million merchants.”

Visa To Work On CBDC?

Central Bank Digital Currencies have drawn the attention of several governments across the world. China’s advancement in the same has turned several heads. Speaking about the integration of CBDCs into the economy, Sheffield pointed out that Visa’s relationship with central banks is not news. Visa has been working with several central banks across the globe and discussions about CBDCs has reportedly gained more traction. While several continue to diss stablecoins formulated by private companies, Sheffield believes that CBDCs would have to deal with similar prospects.

Stressing on the process of including CBDCs into the global economy, he added,

“[…]We think there’s a big opportunity for Visa to leverage our existing network and assets and expertise to add value to both central banks as they think about CBDCs, as well as to other private sector entities that are exploring these privately issued stable coins.”

Exiting The Libra Project

Facebook’s crypto venture, Libra had stirred the entire globe. As the regulatory pressure around the project surged, several members of the project walked out of the door. Shedding some light on the same, Sheffield put forth a conjecture that the payments platform was keen on aiding digital asset projects that the “diverse set of clients demand.” The focus was more on delivering a service that worked with a wide variety of digital currencies and networks, he added.

Furthermore, Angelos said,

“If we join a consortium, it’ll be because we want to influence and help some of those principles that we believe in be executed.”

MasterCard and Visa Issue a Statement of Their Stance on Crypto, But Will They Issue Their Own Crypto?

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Major credit card firms, MasterCard and Visa, have released strong statements about digital currencies this week. However, the two companies do not appear to be planning on creating their own crypto.

This week, Visa reiterated its connections with significant crypto firms, including Anchorage, Fold, and Coinbase. On the other hand, MasterCard has revealed its plans to expand its cryptocurrency credit card partnerships, starting with WireX fintech company.

The supportive cryptocurrency point of view of the two credit card companies, begs the question: will any of the two firms become more ambitious and move on from crypto card partnerships, and develop their cryptocurrency? 

MasterCard and Visa explore blockchain technology

MasterCard and Visa both appear to be taking into account blockchain technology, at least hypothetically. Notably, MasterCard alone has filed more than 80 blockchain-related patents, and Visa on the other hand has filed more than 24 blockchain patents. For instance, Visa submitted a patent for a virtual asset that could be based on Ethereum blockchain. 

In the meantime, MasterCard has filed for a patent that can be utilized to develop new blockchain infrastructures, with multi-coin support. Nonetheless, an comprehensive analysis of the patents narrates how firms could manage virtual assets or apply digital ledger technology. The patents do not point at MasterCard and Visa are creating cryptos like BTC or ETH. However, there are no assurances the patents will be put into work; the two firms govern the intellectual activity for the tech outlined by the patents

Crypto regulations could hinder roll-out

Additionally, the strict crypto policing structure could also prevent MasterCard and Visa from rolling out a cryptocurrency. Although the two firms are in an excellent position to steer through the regulatory procedures, it might still take time.

The fact that MasterCard and Visa have stringent principles regarding regulatory conformity; the two firms would put a great deal of effort before issuing crypto to the public. Notably, the two firms abandoned the Facebook Libra project due to regulatory concerns back in 2019.

DeFi-enabled Crypto Card Verified by Visa for EU and UK

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Spending bitcoin or other digital currencies in day-to-day life is not straightforward as traders prefer to avoid the volatile nature of digital currencies. To link the traditional financial system to the new age of digital assets such as Bitcoin, a Swiss-based cryptocurrency startup, Eidoo, has launched a new DeFi-enabled crypto card that uses stablecoins for fiat-to-crypto conversions.

The new De-Fi enabled crypto card was approved for operation by the major payment company, Visa. In addition, the card, dubbed the Eidoo Card, will now enable more than 40 million Visa merchants to accept crypto payments from fiat currencies such as the UK Pound and Euro.

DeFi-enabled crypto cards to facilitate cryptocurrency payments

The CEO of Eidoo, Thomas Bertani noted that the latest confirmation by the payment giants is a part of his firm’s collaboration with Contis, which holds a UK’s e-money license and a principal member of Visa Europe. According to Bertani, the payment giants verified all cards to be issued by Contis and UK-based financial services firm Moneyfold. 

Meanwhile, Contis will act as the issuing firm of the Eidoo Cards same way cards like Monolith work. Meanwhile, Moneyfold’s stablecoins based on the Ethereum blockchain,  Moneyfold Euro and Moneyfold GBP, will open up a greater deal of transparency and decentralization while converting between fiat and crypto. 

“People have a given crypto token, they sell it for the stablecoin via DeFi DEXes like Uniswap. Then the regulated stablecoin obtained from there is topped up with a 1:1 exchange rate; (1 Moneyfold EUR = 1 EUR) on the crypto card when the payment occurs,” Bertani explained.

Decentralizing debit cards

Moreover, the co-founder and CEO of Moneyfold, Nikola Tchouparov highlighted the special nature Eidoo Card which is stablecoin-based. “It will be the first time the back-end of a crypto card is done via stablecoins and DEXes,” Tchouparov stated.

Furthermore, Eidoo users are required to stake or burn their EDO holdings before pre-ordering the Eidoo Card. EDO is the native token of Eidoo platform. The terms state that a user should burn 100 EDO tokens to get the card or stake 25,000 EDO tokens.

Visa Accords Coinbase the Power to Endow Debit Cards

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According to an announcement made on February 19, Coinbase is now a principal member of Visa. The credit card giants officially granted Coinbase that status back in December 2019. However, the status was not disclosed to the public until today.

Moreover, the new membership status eliminates quite a significant and expensive middleman off the process of issuing debit cards. The cryptocurrency firm used to work with Paysafe to issue Coinbase cards. Following the new membership status, Coinbase can now stop relying on Paysafe and control a large stake of the card payment stack; to issue debit cards that allow users to spend their own bitcoin, ether, and XRP anywhere Visa is accepted.

In particular, principal membership has given Coinbase a significant advantage as it is the first cryptocurrency firm; with the power to issue debit cards to others, including other digital currency firms and even other traditional firms. Visa confirmed Coinbase’s new membership status but reiterated the company itself won’t accept digital currencies when the project launches later in the year.

Moving forward, Coinbase says it will not issue cards to others anytime soon. Nevertheless, the principal membership status presents Coinbase with a new significant income source. The membership status simplifies the process of spending digital currencies anywhere a Visa card is accepted. In addition, the principle membership establishes a platform for the likely explosion of BTC, ETH, XRP, and many other digital currencies.  According to Zeeshan Feroz, CEO of Coinbase UK:

“Your Bitcoin holdings have never been liquid because you have to sell them, you have to go through a process, withdraw the money, and then spend it. It’s never been an instant, “Oh, I’ll buy this cup of coffee with bitcoin.” What the card is trying to change is the mindset that crypto is tucked away, takes two days to access, and can actually now be spent in real time.”

Coinbase Visa Debit Card not Available to U.S. Residents

Coinbase Visa cards will enable users to spend their cryptocurrency holdings in purchasing everyday items; regardless of whether the merchant accepts crypto. Moreover, the Coinbase card was initially launched in the U.K. but it is currently available in 29 other European nations. The Coinbase card can practically function anywhere in the world; however, it cannot be ordered by people outside the supported countries.

Nonetheless, the Coinbase Visa debit card will not be available to residents of the United States. The card that automates the conversion of cryptocurrency to the one preferred by the merchant; will go live later this year and will be managed by Coinbase’s U.K. subsidiary. It will be first issued to the 29 supported countries. The debit card will support nine cryptocurrencies which will include litecoin, bitcoin cash, Brave’s BAT, Augur’s REP, 0x’s ZRX, and Stellar’s lumen. The digital currencies will not be subject to capital gain taxes; since in Europe, users are not required to pay additional taxes; on price differences between when the crypto was purchased and sold like in the U.S.

In Conclusion

More than half the number of users who initially ordered the Coinbase card is still active. The U.K hosts the majority of the users followed by Italy, Spain, and France, according to Coinbase. Bitcoin and the digital currencies may not or are yet to replace MasterCard and Visa, leaving traditional debit cards as the only viable alternative.

 

Ripple Partner MoneyGram Joins Forces With Visa for FastSend launch

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Cross border transactions have become the norm with several mainstream companies taking the route. Ripple has been one of the several companies taking an initiative from the cryptocurrency sphere and that has shown with the partnerships.

Just recently, one of Ripple’s major partners, MoneyGram, announced a new service that is not using Ripple’s technology, but rather that of its rival, Visa

MoneyGram claimed that FastSend was developed keeping in mind the quick and easy access that people need to money. The service will enable users to send money to a phone number in real time using their particular website or mobile app. Since investing $50 million in the remittance company, Ripple owns 10 percent of MoneyGram.

During the launch, Kamila Chytil, the Chief Operating Officer [COO] of MoneyGram stated:

“Today, MoneyGram is utilizing Ripple’s On Demand Liquidity product which allows MoneyGram to trade FX at a corporate level using XRP. It’s a back-end treasury function that’s not consumer facing. The technology is helping to solve the most expensive and time consuming aspect of the current process by reducing the amount of money the company needs to park around the world, which will eventually reduce working capital needs.”

The service is intended to be cheap to ensure everyone uses it. The cost of individual transactions will be $1.99 with the cap limit set at $10,000. FastSend will be supported by Visa Direct rails with the market expecting that it will draw customers into the market. This can probably result in more people learning about Ripple and the cryptocurrency cross border transaction department.

Alex Holmes, the CEO of MoneyGram stated that users will be able to send money as easily as sending a text. Chytil added that the company will use direct original credit transaction to send funds. This mode of transfer will not use Distributed Ledger Technology [DLT] but will instead use open-source cloud services.

At the same time, Ripple uses blockchain-based products extensively to service other products as well. Officials close to the company stated that FastSend functions as a back end treasury function that is not consumer-facing. This also reduces the amount of capital that the bank needs to park around the world. Ripple saw this as the major factor in controlling the amount of liquidity in the market.

Liquidity is seen as the main problem that a lot of banks seems to face With XRP and the company’s proprietary technology, Ripple plans to rid the issue of circulating currency. Once the liquidity for trading increases, the remaining capital can be used for other purposes such as margin trading. According to MoneyGram, the latest feature will utilize the blockchain to change the financial world.

Alex Holmes led the company aims to increase blockchain adoption among financial institutions and believes that it will come to fruition soon. Ripple’s influence had also penetrated into the Asian market recently. The popular Bangladeshi organization Bank of Asia had just announced that they had joined the RippleNet.

The news about Bank of Asia was first discovered by a Twitter user who had noticed the bank’s logo on a Ripple document. The bank now joins the likes of Santander, American Express, Send Friend and Standard Chartered.

Vodafone Becomes Next Major Player To Quit Facebook’s Libra; States Focus on ‘M-Pesa’ as Reason

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Regulatory authorities have always determined the fate of several cryptocurrency companies and as time passes the rules have become more and more stringent.  When Facebook decided to launch its own cryptocurrency last year, it did so with a lot of backers in its kitty. But looks like things are changing now.

According to recent reports, Facebook’s Libra has lost yet another partner in between a maelstrom of regulatory uncertainty. This comes after months of open-ended discussions about the much talked about cryptocurrency.

On January 22nd, Vodafone announced that it was pulling out of the Libra project. After this, the British telecommunication giant becomes one of the names joining Paypal and Mastercard as they leave the Libra family. An official statement from the company said:

“Vodafone Group has decided to withdraw from the Libra Association. We have said from the outset that Vodafone’s desire is to make a genuine contribution to extending financial inclusion.We remain fully committed to that goal and feel we can make the most contribution by focusing our efforts on [mobile payments platform] M-Pesa.”

M-Pesa is a money platform for smartphones with a massive presence in developing countries such as Kenya. Vodafone has stated that it wants to elevate M-Pesa’s 30 million users across 10 countries.

Once Vodafone’s exodus was announced, Libra took measures to show that there were no problems within its doors. To put out the growing fires, Dante Disparte, the head of policy and communications for the Libra association gave his two cents on the future of Facebook’s cryptocurrency.

Disparte claimed that the organization would continue to stick to its core values and deliver products. He candidly admitted that the makeup of the Association members may change over time but that was “only natural”.

Vodafone has joined payments giants such as Mastercard and Visa as companies that backed out of the Libra project. The debit and credit card giants had decided to leave back in October 2019, mainly pointing at the giant cloud of regulatory uncertainty. Both the companies had quit the roster a  few days before Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg appeared before the House Committee on Financial Services.

Several regulators have raised multiple concerns over Libra and that has been the major obstacle impeding its launch. Libra was supposed to launch in early 2020 but looking at the problems within its system, it looks like it will be more delayed. Libra had also lost Mercado Pago, a Latin American payments company towards the fag end of 2019.

Although Visa and Mastercard pulled out, a spokesperson from the former stated that there were other options in the works. According to him, Visa was appreciative of what Facebook was doing and remain open to working with Libra at a much later stage.

WorldPay Joins Visa To Become African Fintech Giant Flutterwave’s Latest Partner

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Several institutional players have taken a keen interest in cryptocurrency organizations after realizing that using digital assets was the way to go. This sudden boom was earlier focussed in regions such as the US and Europe but now countries in Africa were also giving it a run for its money.

Just recently, Flutterwave, a fintech company headquartered in San Fransisco announced that they had completed a massive $35 million fundraising round, The company also partnered with two major companies.

On January 22nd, Flutterwave revealed that they had partnered with Visa and WorldPay to expand in Northern and Francophone Africa. The $35 million funding round was expected to fund this very expansion. Flutterwave was founded by Iyinoluwa Aboyeji and Olugbenga Agboola, two entrepreneurs from Nigeria who wanted to contribute towards Africa’s booming fintech economy.

Visa and WorldPay first took interest in Flutterwave because of the wave it specialized in individual and consumer transfers. The company was one of several organizations in Africa which aimed to solve real-world problems using blockchain and crypto. Following the partnership announcement, Agboola stated:

“For us at Flutterwave, we have been focused on enterprise clients and now we are going to deepen that and also show how we can help small businesses scale their business when they use us as their payment partner. That’s a major goal for this investment for us.”

The partnership entails Flutterwave becoming the sole African payment provider for Worldpay’s worldwide client base. Worldpay had earlier stated that it trusts Flutterwave’s proprietary technology to allow it to penetrate the African market. With Worldpay’s involvement, Flutterwace will become the latest organization to open up the world of digital assets for Africa.

Flutterwave follows in the steps of cryptocurrency companies like Electroneum who have solidified their African foundation. Electroneum has also gone as far as improving mobile connectivity in countries such as Nigeria and Uganda.

Visa’s interest in Flutterwave started way back when the latter began its services. The credit and debit card giant was one of the first buy-ins to Flutterwave. Visa had joined Flutterwave on a consumer payment platform called Barter in 2019 with an aim to boost the cross border transactions sector.

Flutterwave is expected to continue raising the bar with Visa and even have plans to launch physical and virtual Visa cards. The Flutterwave co-founders were confident that the company can function as a bridge to connect multiple regions, regardless of boundaries. This rampant development has been one of the main reasons why Flutterwave’s backers include Green Vison, Greycroft & eVentures and CRE Ventures.

Countries in Africa are now being looked at as prospective regions for massive growth. Some financial analysts claim that opening up the developing countries in Africa can result in a GDP jump of $3.7 trillion. They also expect more companies to expand their services in Africa by first making it easy to use.

 

Source:TheNewYorkTimes