By George Ward
Al Kelly, the CEO of Visa, the popular credit card company, is confident that the company can integrate blockchain technology into its offerings and services to drive the future of payments.
CBDCs And Stablecoins To Transform Payment
The CEO said this while delivering his speech at Visa’s yearly stakeholder meeting. Kelly also shared the company’s plans for private stablecoins and CBDCs. Meanwhile, Kelly will officially step down as CEO of the company on February 1st.
According to local media reports, the CEO said, “although it is still in the early stages, the belief is that CBDCs and stablecoins have the potential to impact the payments industry significantly. Besides, we are currently working on various projects in that direction.”
The outgoing CEO added that the company has invested in crypto assets and firms to transform the payments sector. Fortunately, Kelly noted that the latest bankruptcies in the crypto space had not affected Visa’s balance sheet.
“We have not experienced any credit losses resulting from these failures. Nevertheless, we shall maintain our integrity and reputation as a trusted brand,” Kelly said. Throughout the years, the credit card firm has taken part in several crypto-related initiatives.
In September 2021, Visa’s research team initiated a blockchain interoperability project called Universal Payment Channel (UPC). This project aims to create a “network of networks” that enables private stablecoins and CBDCs to traverse multiple payment channels.
However, the company has not provided any updates on this initiative in the past year.
Visa To Launch Crypto Debit Cards
Meanwhile, the payment giant recently stated that it is working on a plan allowing users to pay bills automatically from their Ethereum-based wallet. In addition, Visa unveiled numerous crypto debit cards with “zero fees” in 2022.
One such crypto debit card was in partnership with the now-bankrupt FTX exchange. However, the company canceled the deal after the crypto exchange filed for bankruptcy.
On October 26th, the payment giant signed a similar agreement with Blockchain.com crypto exchange. Meanwhile, Visa’s 2022 annual report only had information until September 30th.
That’s about five weeks before the collapse of FTX. Hence, the firm may disclose more details in its Q1 2023 earnings call.
Interestingly, Ryan McInerney, the current vice president of Visa, will become the new CEO of Visa on February 1st. Kelly will continue as the executive chairman of the company.
Like Kelly, McInerney is also bullish on using blockchain technology to power payment solutions. In November, McInerney spoke in an interview, saying Visa is researching the best crypto integration for payment solutions.