Visa announced that it will allow the use of the cryptocurrency USD Coin to settle transactions on its payment network. This move is seen as the latest sign of growing acceptance of digital currencies by the mainstream financial industry.
The company added that it had already launched the pilot program with payment and crypto platform Crypto.com. This is as the payment system firm looks to offer the option to more partners later this year.
This comes at a time when the crypto world has seen an all-time record rise in value and popularity across the world. Bitcoin, the most popular crypto coin, has been soaring every week, rising as much as 4.5% to $58,300 (about KES 6.4 million) in one week.
However, it is reasonable to see why Visa chose to start with USD Coin as it is a stablecoin whose value is pegged directly to the U.S. dollar.
Other international finance firms like BNY Mellon, BlackRock and Mastercard have also made similar moves to more use of crypto for investment and payment purposes.
The rise in popularity in cryptocurrency is associated with the growing interest from famous tech moguls. This includes Tesla boss Elon Musk who last week announced that Tesla will allow its vehicles to be bought using bitcoin.
“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.
As the world continues to advance, it becomes clearer that cryptocurrency growing its roots deep into the world financial system is almost inevitable.
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