In another bit of incredible news for the cryptocurrency space, leading payment giant Visa announced its decision to allow the use of the USD Coin (USDC) to pay for transactions on its network.
According to the Visa announcement, USDC, the Ethereum stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar, will now be accepted as a means of payment on the Visa network. Revealing the growing adoption of cryptocurrencies and the entire crypto space.
Today, @Visa announced a major industry first: the use of USD Coin (USDC) to settle a transaction with Visa over the @Ethereum public #blockchain: https://t.co/QiCuOGns77 pic.twitter.com/GVVGrzuBgo
— VisaNews (@VisaNews) March 29, 2021
Visa disclosed that the new initiative followed its partnership with one of the leading crypto exchanges, Crypto.com, and California-based crypto bank, Anchorage.
The payment giant further stated that by enabling support for the second-largest stablecoin by market capitalization via Crypto.com, it has eliminated the need to convert the digital assets into fiat currency for payment of transactions in its network. Additionally, Visa will start offering the same service to more partners shortly. Currently, Visa partners about 35 crypto platforms like Coinbase and BlockFi.
Speaking about the new initiative, Kris Marszalek, CEO of Crypto.com, said that the new initiative was also possible because Crypto.com recently announced its Global Alliance partnership and principal membership with Visa.
What Does This Mean for Crypto.com Users?
For Crypto.com, it means their users who hold USDC in their wallets can spend it using the Visa card without actually having to convert USDC tokens to USD. Basically, the user can send USDC from his ETH wallet address in Anchorage custody under Visa’s name. This will enable making payments in USDC at point of sales that accept Visa cards.
“To continue accelerating the world’s transition to cryptocurrency, we need partners who understand the opportunity and the tools that will help us get to market faster and more efficiently. Having been a Visa partner for several years, we’re excited to deepen that relationship through our global agreement and to pioneer an exciting world-first in stablecoin payments,” Kris Marszalek stated.
He further shared that the exchange’s new blockchain initiative would issue USDC soon. He said, “To further support this effort, Crypto.org Chain will work to enable native USDC issuance on its network later this year. All the pieces are coming together 🚀”
On the heels of our recently announced Global Alliance, https://t.co/pFc4PzqqHR and @Visa conduct first settlement in USDC – a world first!
The card was connected directly to a USDC wallet and transactions were settled to Visa in USDC. https://t.co/b9xzZA9fOk
— Kris | Crypto.com (@kris) March 29, 2021
Notably, the Global Crypto Alliance is a borderless organization that specializes in decentralized business development and blockchain ecosystems.
Increasing User Demand Led to the New Initiative
Cuy Sheffield, head of crypto at Visa, while expressing his excitement with the new initiative, stated that it happened as a result of the increasing demand from users to create products that provide easy access for consumers to digital assets.
He said, “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.”
Similarly, Jack Forestell, Chief Product Officer of Visa, said the blockchain firm’s decision to allow the use of USDC to settle transactions on its payment network was in a bid to offer financial-technology firms premium service.
“Crypto-native fintechs want partners who understand their business and the complexities of digital currency,” he said.
Also expressing delight with the new initiative, Diogo Mónica, co-founder and president of Anchorage, said the crypto bank was fully equipped to handle the new products. “Anchorage’s platform has been purposefully built for institutions like Visa to build new products in crypto,” she said.
Growing Adoption of Crypto
It is important to note that Visa isn’t the only multinational corporation to have recently adopted digital currencies. Last week, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors, announced that the American electric maker now accepts Bitcoin as a means of payment for its cars.
You can now buy a Tesla with Bitcoin
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 24, 2021
The announcement by the Tesla CEO has invariably shown that more major organizations are now embracing Bitcoin. Like Tesla, other firms like PayPal, Rakuten, Twitch, Starbucks, Overstock.com, Whole Foods, amongst others now accept the king of crypto as a means of payment.
BTC and CRO Price
As a result of Visa’s announcement, Bitcoin price has rallied by 5.1%, again facing an upward trend, heading back toward its all-time high of $61,000.
At the time of publication, the top token’s price was trading at $57,925.68, with a market cap of $1,081,348,892,047 and a 24-hour trading volume of $56,213,447,120.
Crypto.com Coin’s (CRO) price has rallied by 9.8% in the last 24 hours. The token was trading at $0.2233, with a market cap of $5,132,384,117 and a 24-hour trading volume of $156,943,746. CRO currently has a circulating supply of 25.2 billion coins.
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