Visa CEO: „We are uniquely positioned to help make cryptocurrencies more safe, useful and applicable for payments”

Today, 35 of the leading digital currency platforms and wallets have already chosen to issue Visa.

Visa Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Al Kelly said that may add cryptocurrencies to the company’s payments network. Speaking on the company’s fiscal first-quarter 2021 earnings call, Kelly talk about how Visa thinks about crypto and the company’s approach.

Al Kelly – Chairman and Chief Executive Officer:

„In this space, we see ways that we can add differentiated value to the ecosystem. And we believe that we are uniquely positioned to help make cryptocurrencies more safe, useful and applicable for payments through our global presence, our partnership approach and our trusted brand.

We think of the crypto market in two segments. First, there are cryptocurrencies that represent new assets such as Bitcoin. Second, there are digital currencies or stable coins that are directly backed by existing fiat currencies.

We see all currencies in that first segment as digital gold. They are predominantly held as assets that are not used as a form of payment in a significant way at this point. Our strategy here is to work with wallets and exchanges to enable users to purchase these currencies using their Visa credentials or to cash out onto our Visa credential to make a fiat purchase at any of the 70 million merchants where Visa is accepted globally.

This is similar to our approach to connect closed-loop wallets such as LINE Pay and Paytm. For the second segment, fiat-backed digital currencies, including stable coins and central bank digital currencies, these are an emerging payments innovation that could have the potential to be used for global commerce, much like any other fiat currency.”

Kelly added:

„We think of digital currencies running on public blockchains as additional networks just like RTP or ACH networks, so we see them as part of our network of networks strategy. Across both of these segments, we are the clear leader in this space.

Today, 35 of the leading digital currency platforms and wallets have already chosen to issue Visa, including coin-based Crypto.com, BlackFi, Fold and BitPanda. These wallet relationships represent the potential for more than 50 million Visa credentials. The next leading network has a fraction of that. And it goes without saying, to the extent a specific digital currency becomes a recognized means of exchange, there’s no reason why we cannot add it to our network, which already supports over 160 currencies today.”