Visa has handled more than $1 Billion worth of crypto payments
Visa has said that its crypto-backed cards have been used for transactions worth more than $1 billion since the beginning of the year.
We are seeing traction picking up in the crypto ecosystem as more and more companies begin to adopt crypto and view it as an alternate form of payments rather than it being viewed as a purely speculative instrument.
“We are doing a lot to create an ecosystem that makes cryptocurrency more usable and more like any other currency,” Visa CFO Vasant Prabhu said. “People are exploring ways in which they can use cryptocurrencies for things they would use normal currencies for.” He added, “There are lots of issues in terms of volatility, etc. But that’s up to the owners of cryptocurrencies to manage and track.”
Prabhu added: “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,”
After a lot of dithering, Visa became one of the biggest companies to start backing blockchain and crypto and since its decision towards the end of last year, it has been investing heavily into the field. They now see the value behind crypto and want to treat it on par with fiat which is why they decided to support crypto payments along with fiat payments as well. This thought seems to be reaping dividends as shown by the transaction volumes so far.
With the BTC wave waning a bit, the next wave seems to be coming from the stablecoins and their use as a form of payment. With the stablecoins being backed by actual money and with over $10 billion worth of stablecoins in circulation, it is only a matter of time before more companies view it on par with fiat.
Circle, Coinbase, and BlockFi have tied up with Visa to link the crypto wallets on their platform with the Visa cards and this has helped to push the crypto ecosystem even further. Still, the stablecoins and the transaction size of crypto are very small when compared to the $18 trillion annual spendings done by consumers and this shows the potential that is available for the crypto world for growth and expansion. When the crypto payments, and it increasingly looks like it’s more of a ‘when’ than an ‘if’, moves mainstream we are going to see the transaction volumes take off and the early adopters in this field would most likely reap the benefits.
