Breaking: VISA to allow USDC stablecoin settlements on its network
2 min readGlobal payments giant Visa today announced it would allow the settlement of cryptocurrencies on its network, as per a report on Reuters.
The firm has selected the USD Coin (USDC) as part of the first cryptocurrency to be settled. The USDC is a stablecoin that’s pegged on a 1:1 basis with the US dollar and is a joint project of crypto firms Circle and Coinbase.
The pilot is in collaboration with the payment and crypto platform Crypto.com. Visa plans to offer the option to more partners later this year, the report added.
“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,” Cuy Sheffield, head of crypto at Visa, said.
Traditionally, if a customer chooses to use a Crypto.com Visa card to pay for a coffee, the digital currency held in a cryptocurrency wallet needs to be converted into traditional money.
The cryptocurrency wallet will deposit traditional fiat currency in a bank account, to be wired to Visa at the end of the day to settle any transactions, adding cost and complexity for businesses.
Visa’s latest step, which will use the ETH blockchain, strips out the need to convert digital coin into traditional money in order for the transaction to be settled.
Visa said it has partnered with digital asset bank Anchorage and completed the first transaction this month — with Crypto.com sending USDC to Visa’s ETH address at Anchorage.
(This story is developing and will be updated shortly.)
The post Breaking: VISA to allow USDC stablecoin settlements on its network appeared first on CryptoSlate.
