A top executive at the California financial services company has revealed plans to introduce crypto payment cards to the region.
Global payment solutions company Visa has announced that it plans to launch and implement the integration of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies into its platform in Brazil. The new operating model would eliminate intermediaries, allowing users to invest directly in cryptocurrencies and associated exchange traded funds (ETFs).
In an interview with a local newspaper in Brazil, the company’s deputy director of new business Eduardo Abreu revealed that the planned move would see the company move towards establishing crypto assets as value stores and payment methods. Mr. Abreu said that to achieve these higher levels of adoption, it was necessary to create an environment where cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies could interact freely.
The region is ready for change
While pushing for interoperability of cryptos and fiats, Abreu added that, as with other transactions, users should be able to receive any cashback in the form of crypto.
“Brazilians already have the culture of receiving card points, miles, discounts, etc. Why not also receive cryptocurrencies with their credit card ? ».
The idea of integration is not really new given that Fernando Teles, the CEO of Visa in Brazil, brought it up in March. At the time, he talked about using an application programming interface (API) to implement tokenized payments. The payment company was already planning to collaborate with digital banks to achieve this integration.
Having already prepared the ground through partnerships with financial institutions in Brazil, including Rippio, Alterbank and Zro Bank, Visa is well positioned to implement this new strategy. It intends to leverage its relationships with these companies to offer credit cards linking customer accounts to cryptocurrency exchange platforms and other similar businesses in the financial landscape.
The B2B blockchain to improve transparency in the NFT space
Mr Abreu added that the company was also working on setting up a blockchain-based alternative that would be used to settle transactions under business-to-business (B2B) exchanges. He noted that such a system would take a big step towards transparency, as all parties involved in the transaction would be able to validate it.
The vice president of new business also touched on the topic of non-fungible tokens (NFT). According to Mr. Abreu, the $ 150,000 purchase of a CryptoPunk last month was only part of Visa’s growing venture into the NFT space, as Visa Brazil is working on a soon-to-launch NFT initiative.
As Visa’s Cuy Sheffield explained at the end of last month, the purchase of CryptoPunk was made with the intention of understanding the entire purchasing process in order to put the company in a good position to deal with customers in the future.
