By Michael Scott
The recent announcement by payments giant Visa confirmed leveraging Solana blockchain and stablecoin USD Coin (USDC) to pursue an expanded presence in crypto.
The firm revealed in the Tuesday, September 7 statement engaging merchants in moving millions in USDC, whose $26 billion market capitalization ranks as the sixth-largest digital asset per CoinGecko.
Visa Engages Nuvei and Worldpay to Allow USDC Settlement
Visa indicated engaging merchant acquirers Nuvei and Worldpay to accept USDC settlement rather than receive the fiat currencies. The news of Visa utilizing the Solana blockchain triggered a native token rally of 4%.
Settlement involves the issuing bank initiating funds transfer from the account run by the cardholder through a payment gateway. The transfer targets banks that accept card payments on the merchant’s behalf.
Integrating Blockchain Networks and USDC Stablecoin to Shorten Transaction Time
Visa statement profiled USDC as a stablecoin issued by Circle and pegged to the US dollar. It indicated that the stablecoin USDC issuer Circle holds reserve dollars supporting every circulating token.
Stablecoins have become the exit transactions for traders within the crypto world. Such arises particularly when they lack immediate access to the fiat currencies available within the traditional banking system.
Utilizing blockchain networks with global acceptance and stablecoin USDC would shorten the time to execute the cross-border settlement. Using stablecoins, USDC offers Visa a modern alternative for clients to transfer funds from the treasury.
Visa Leveraging Ethereum and Crypto.com Exchange to Execute Cross-border Settlements
Crypto head at Visa, Cuy Sheffield, indicated that the payment firm unveiled the project by partnering with the crypto exchange Crypto.com. The latter would utilize Ethereum in executing cross-border settlements involving the Crypto.com Visa cards.
Visa’s crypto ambitions journey began with plans to introduce the crypto debit cards. The program would expand the crypto debit cards to over 40 countries. Visa plans would utilize now-collapsed FTX.
Visa would slow down the ambitions following FTX’s bankruptcy in early November 2022. The firm would revive crypto ambitions this year. It portrayed its crypto ambitions by advertising for a senior software developer vacancy.
Visa Unveils Experimental Solution on Ethereum Blockchain
Visa would, in August, introduce the experimental solution running on the Ethereum blockchain. The solution would enable the clients to settle gas fees from credit and debit cards.
Sheffield considered that onboarding the Solana blockchain is a critical milestone because its native token SOL’s market capitalization ranks as the tenth largest digital asset, according to CoinGecko.
Its integration will open Visa to developers involved in building decentralized applications within Solana, just as the case on Ethereum and mint nonfungible tokens (NFTs).