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The
move is aimed at financial institutions eager to attract or
retain customers with crypto offerings, retailers looking to
delve into non-fungible tokens (NFTs) or central banks exploring
digital currencies, the company said.
Visa's services include educating institutions about
cryptocurrencies, allowing clients to use the payment
processor's network for digital offerings, and helping manage
backend operations.
A new global study by Visa showed nearly 40% of crypto owners
surveyed said they would likely or very likely switch their
primary bank to one that offers crypto-related products in the
next 12 months.
Visa is set to launch services this year that will allow buying,
selling and custody of digital currency through its banking
partners.
There are also a number of Visa card programs that let users
earn bitcoin on purchases and the network will also allow its
client the use of USD Coin, a stablecoin cryptocurrency whose
value is pegged directly to the U.S. dollar, to settle
transactions on its payment network.
However, for cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin to be used as a
medium of exchange, price stability is needed, Visa's chief
financial officer, Vasant Prabhu, told Reuters.
"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," he said, adding that Visa
would facilitate such transactions when the time was right.
(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; Editing by
Shailesh Kuber)
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