Visa launched a global crypto advisory service for merchants and financial institutions.
VISA — As the adoption of digital currencies gained steam, the world’s largest payment processor launched on Wednesday a global crypto advisory service for merchants and financial institutions.
The said move came against the backdrop of unprecedented investor demand for crypto services and the company’s latest offering was geared towards financial institutions eager to attract or retain customers with a crypto offering, central banks exploring digital currencies, or retailers looking to delve into NFTs (non-fungible tokens).
Reuters reported that Visa’s services include the following: allowing clients to use the payment processor’s network for digital offerings; educating financial institutions about cryptocurrencies; and helping manage backend operations.
“We came to Visa to learn more about crypto and stablecoins and the use cases that are most relevant for our retail and commercial business lines,” said Uma Wilson, the executive vice president at UMB Bank, a regional US lender.
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Currently, Visa used its network to allow selling, buying, and custody of digital currency.
Also, it offered a credit card that let users earn bitcoin on purchases and also allowed the use of USD Coin (a stablecoin cryptocurrency whose value was pegged directly to the US dollar) in order to settle transactions on its payment network.
However, Visa’s Chief Financial Officer Vasant Prabhu told Reuters that price stability was needed for cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin to be used as a medium of exchange.
“If the price is going to fluctuate from $60,000 to $50,000 in a few hours, it’s a very difficult thing for a merchant to accept (bitcoin) as a currency,” Prabhu said. “I don’t know if cryptocurrencies like bitcoin will ever be a medium of exchange. Stablecoins will.“
Prabhu also said that Visa would facilitate such transactions when the time was right.
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