Visa Announces Partnership with Crypto.com to Settle Transactions in USD Coin

Support for digital currencies as a new type of settlement currency marks an important step forward for global companies’ network and business strategies, which are increasingly designed to enhance all forms of money movement and open new opportunities.

Financial giant Visa recently announced that it has become the first major payments network to settle transactions in USD Coin (USDC). USD Coin is a type of cryptocurrency that is sometimes referred to as “stablecoin.” U.S. bank account holders are always able to redeem one USD Coin for one U.S. dollar, providing USD Coin with a stable price (hence its nickname “stablecoin”). Visa referred to its announcement as a bridge between the worlds of digital and traditional fiat currencies. The company announced the use of USD Coin to settle a transaction with Visa over Ethereum—one of the most actively used open-source blockchains.

Visa announced that it is piloting the capability with Crypto.com, a Visa partner and one of the world’s largest crypto platforms, and plans to offer the USDC settlement capability to additional partners later this year. Visa’s standard settlement process requires partners to settle in a traditional fiat currency, which can add cost and complexity for businesses built with digital currencies.

Visa has spent the last year establishing a pathway for digital currency settlement within Visa’s existing treasury infrastructure, a platform that moves billions of dollars each day across thousands of institutions in more than 200 markets and 160 currencies. Working with Anchorage, the first federally chartered digital asset bank and an exclusive Visa digital currency settlement partner, Visa has launched a pilot that allows Crypto.com to send USDC to Visa to settle a portion of its obligations for the Crypto.com Visa card program.

Crypto-native fintechs want partners who understand their business and the complexities of digital currency form factors,” said Jack Forestell, executive vice president and chief product officer, Visa. “The announcement today marks a major milestone in our ability to address the needs of fintechs managing their business in a stablecoin or cryptocurrency, and it’s really an extension of what we do every day, securely facilitating payments in all different currencies all across the world.”

For more information about consumer and enterprise blockchain technology and its applications, including cryptocurrency, plan on attending The Blockchain Event June 22 to 25, 2021 as part of the #TECHSUPERSHOW at the Miami Beach Convention Center. The Blockchain Event helps decision-makers, technologists, and developers understand the value of blockchain to their businesses regardless of industry. For more information or to register, visit the show’s web site.