Visa’s Chief Executive Officer for Central Europe, Middle East, and Africa (CEMEA), Akshay Chopra, disclosed that the financial services giant’s strategic partnerships with cryptocurrency exchanges have successfully facilitated a staggering $3 billion in payment volume since 2021, News About Nigeria gathered.
These revelations were made to Cointelegraph during a panel discussion at the prestigious Blockchain Economy Dubai Summit, where Visa’s Vice President and Head of Innovation & Design, Akshay Chopra, shed light on the pivotal role that Visa has played as a conduit connecting traditional fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies.
Despite the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies, using them for everyday transactions like purchasing a simple cup of coffee remains far from ubiquitous. To bridge this gap, Visa embarked on a landmark partnership venture with 75 major cryptocurrency exchanges in 2021, granting them the ability to issue Visa cards.
This strategic move opened up a vast network of approximately 80 million Visa-affiliated merchants who could now cater to customers keen on utilizing cryptocurrencies for their transactions.
“Building that bridge alone in 2021, and these numbers haven’t really been made public, facilitated $3 billion of payment volume,” Chopra revealed during the panel discussion.
Chopra pointed out that existing protocols such as the SWIFT payment system have inherent limitations, including the inability to function 24 hours a day, a challenge that blockchain technology can effectively overcome.
“Banks have trillions of dollars of transactions with each other at the end of the day but there is a cut-off time where you simply cannot transact internationally. It’s a big pain point and it’s also expensive and inefficient.”
Highlighting the successful pilot program conducted in collaboration with Circle, utilizing USD Coin (USDC) to enable several cryptocurrency exchange partners to settle payments using USDC, he said, “It’s cheaper than traditional methods, it happens 24/7 and it’s innovative. You send USDC balance and Visa custodies the funds on the backend of the Ethereum blockchain.”
While regulatory hurdles have posed challenges for mainstream financial institutions seeking to fully harness the potential of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency-based payments, Akshay Chopra expressed optimism regarding progressive regulatory environments.
He cited the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as an example of a jurisdiction that has adopted proactive regulatory approaches, which have proven more beneficial to industry participants compared to reactive regulations observed in some other countries, notably the United States.
Visa’s commitment to driving innovation in the cryptocurrency space has made headlines throughout 2023. The company unveiled a comprehensive crypto product roadmap aimed at promoting the adoption of stablecoins and public blockchain payments by mainstream financial institutions.
Additionally, Visa is set to make a substantial investment of $100 million to explore and develop cutting-edge AI-powered products and solutions focused on enhancing the realms of payments and commerce through its subsidiary, Visa Ventures.
