Visa to allow payment settlement in cryptocurrency

Payments network major Visa on Monday announced that it will allow transactions to be settled using cryptocurrency USD Coin, over Ethereum blockchain. The value of USD Coin (USDC) is pegged directly to the US dollar.

The payment major plans on offering the USDC settlement capability to additional partners later this year, according to a statement.  

The ability to settle in USDC eliminates the need for traditional fiat currency in settlement workflows for crypto native companies. The payment network has also partnered with federally chartered digital asset bank Anchorage for digital currency settlement.

“The announcement today marks a major milestone in our ability to address the needs of fintechs managing their business in a stablecoin or cryptocurrency, and it’s really an extension of what we do every day, securely facilitating payments in all different currencies all across the world,” Jack Forestell, executive vice president and chief product officer at Visa said in the statement. 

The announcement by Visa comes at a time when other financial services companies have been talking about increasing adoption of cryptocurrencies for payments and transactions. Recently, Mastercard announced it will support select cryptocurrencies on its network, as a push for its crypto cards which can be used by consumers. 

In a separate development Unicas, a joint venture between London based cryptocurrency bank Cashaa and Jaipur based United Multistate Credit Cooperative Society opened its first physical brand in Delhi for its crypto banking services.

On the other hand, the Indian government has been hinting at a complete ban on cryptocurrency in the country which will also penalise anyone trading in digital currency or owning such digital assets.