Visa is taking a step further from traditional payments and jumping in on two major cryptocurrency projects. The first one is the recent announcement of the integration of the US Dollar Coin, an Ethereum-based stablecoin created by Circle Internet Financial, into Visa’s fintech FastTrack Program.
Visa will work with Circle to integrate the Ethereum protocol to its customers — by issuing cards for USDC payments. Now more than 60M merchants can send and receive USDC whenever they want. Visa won’t take custody of the digital currency.
Visa integrates the Ethereum-based USDC as ETH upgrades to Eth2, making it a more efficient and faster blockchain protocol. The company believes that its 60M base customers can benefit greatly from this new upgrade. Now traders are hoping for a major bullish uptrend for the next week.
No More Cash Or Miles: It’s Bitcoin now
The second project is with BlockFi, a New York-based startup that specializes in cryptocurrency-backed loans and savings accounts. Visa is launching in early 2021 a credit card that rewards its users with Bitcoin — instead of traditional money or miles.
The new card is issued by Evolve Bank & Trust and has an annual fee of $200.
“We’re excited to add credit cards to our suite of products and expand Bitcoin’s accessibility to a broader set of consumers. This card makes it simple and risk-free for people to gain or increase exposure to a new asset class without changing their spending or investing habits.”
Zac Prince, CEO of BlockFi said in a statement.
Visa currently has 25 cryptocurrency wallets integrated into its system. And as Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are becoming wildly popular every day, Visa expects to serve the cryptomarket customers with these two projects — by enhancing new payment methods and providing crypto-rewards.