Visa Creates Service To Advise Financial Institutions On Cryptocurrencies

Visa and crypto, a bunch of cards with Bitcoin logos

It’s a new dawn. Credit card giant Visa is now in the cryptocurrency business. They won’t be buying and selling yet, though. Its new division will focus on advising everyone. From retail customers to financial institutions, even central banks can get information from Visa’s crypto experts. A lot of people still value the input traditional institutions can give, even if they don’t have the track record. So this seems to be good news for the crypto industry as a whole.

Related Reading | As Amazon Takes on Visa, Does Cryptocurrency Offer the Real Alternative?

Reuters informs:

“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.”

And Visa promises:

“Tap crypto’s potential with a pioneer in global payments. For crypto to realize its full potential, we are connecting crypto and blockchain networks to our trusted, global payment network. And we’re propelling innovation to deliver even more access and value to the crypto ecosystem.”

Visa’s CFO Still Doesn’t Understand Bitcoin

In a bizarre move, considering they’re offering expert advice in cryptocurrencies, Visa’s CFO said the darndest thing. 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. I don’t know if cryptocurrencies like bitcoin will ever be a medium of exchange. Stablecoins will.”

Bitcoin is already a medium of exchange. It’s legal tender in an entire country. It’s a process, but merchants will quickly learn the benefits of holding a deflationary currency instead of an inflationary one. If Prabhu doesn’t understand this, how does he expect his clients to take his advice seriously? 

BTC price chart for 12/09/2021 on Gemini | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com

What Did Visa’s Crypto Research Department Found Out?

As an introduction to the company’s crypto research department, the company says, “For financial institutions eager to attract or retain customers with a crypto offering, retailers looking to delve into NFTs, or central banks exploring digital currencies, understanding the crypto ecosystem is a vital first step.”

As the first show of power, they produced “The Crypto Phenomenon: Consumer Attitudes & Usage.” A report that, among other things, found out the following:

Related Reading | Visa Is Building A Payment Channel Network On Ethereum

Conclusions To Avoid Confusion

Even though Visa’s study seems to be skewed to what its clients need to hear to acquire their new service, the results are interesting. It’s useful to see what the research department of a company with that kind of resources can come up with. Let’s hope they keep it coming. And let’s also hope that Visa’s CTO reads “The Bitcoin Standard,” because that quote was embarrassing.

Featured Image: Visa and Bitcoin, taken from their site | Charts by TradingView
Exit mobile version