VISA Has Its Eyes On CBDCs, Stablecoins and Blockchain Networks

According to the head of Visa’s crypto department, the payments giant is exploring the possibility of incorporating multiple types of blockchain technology in the future.

Recently, Visa extended its stablecoin settlement abilities to the Solana (SOL) blockchain and introduced a new cross-border money system that utilizes Circle’s USDC.

The head of crypto, Cuy Sheffield, likened the current state of crypto to the early days of the internet, describing it as going through a “broadband moment” where it is evolving and progressing as a technology.

Many people are skeptical of blockchains today, much like they were of the early internet. Analysts often criticize them for being slow, difficult to use, and expensive, while also claiming there are no real use cases.

However, just like the internet, blockchains have had their challenges and some use cases are still emerging.

As a pioneer in the payments industry for over six decades, Visa recognizes the potential of blockchain networks and their possible futures. It’s important to remember that the internet was once slow, expensive, and hard to use, but it has evolved to become fast, cheap, and user-friendly.

Visa, the company that processes almost 40% of daily transactions worldwide, plans to incorporate crypto technology such as stablecoins and government-run central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) into its network.

According to Sheffield, Visa envisions a future where its network includes multiple blockchain networks and tokenized deposits in addition to various currencies and bank settlement rails.

Despite the co-existence of traditional fiat and legacy settlement rails with tokenized fiat running over global 24/7 real-time blockchain networks, Visa sees its role as a bridge to meet clients regardless of their preferred currency, settlement network, or form factor.

According to a press release, Visa conducted a successful pilot with Crypto.com and is now launching a new cross-border payment system using Circle’s USDC on Solana.

Visa has already moved millions of USDC between its partners on both Solana and Ethereum over VisaNet, the company’s online payment processing system, as part of the pilot.

Check out our previous article in order to learn more details about this.