Financial services corporation – Visa – collaborated with cryptocurrency exchange – FTX – to offer debit cards in 40 countries around the world.
The cards are already available in the United States and will soon arrive in other countries in Asia, Latin America and Europe.
Visa’s next crypto move
In an interview for CNBC, Visa CFO Vasant Prabhu noted that the ongoing crypto winter has not deterred interest in digital currencies.
He explained that the cards launched by his company and Visa link directly to users’ crypto accounts, and they can spend their holdings without moving them off the platform “like you would with any bank account.”
Prabhu said Visa does not want to take a position on what the long-term value of the cryptocurrency market would be or whether it is a suitable investment vehicle. However, he assured that the company will offer digital asset services as long as people are intrigued by the sector.
FTX founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried commented that traditional payment companies should choose whether to embrace the crypto industry or “fight it.” He praised the decision of many such companies, including Visa, to select the first option.
SBF revealed that the cards are now available on US soil. In his view, however, they could be much more beneficial in other countries where national currencies have depreciated to worrying levels, such as Turkey and Argentina:
“A lot of these things are potentially interesting and valuable in the U.S., but even more so when you look globally. That’s where you’ll find places with really poor alternatives for toll rails and a huge demand for something better.”
It is worth noting that the collaboration between Visa and FTX positively affected the native token of the platform – FTT. Several hours ago, it rose above $25.60, a record price for the past three weeks.
Visa collaborations with rivals
Earlier this year, the payment processor joined hands with the largest crypto exchange, Binance, to launch a similar card. Customers must pre-load it with digital assets if they want to use it.
With it, they can pay bills to more than 60 million merchants in 200 countries where Visa is accepted. The feature supports 12 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Binance Coin (BNB), Binance USD (BUSD), Tether (USDT), and more.
Before that, Visa struck a deal with Coinbase. Both parties introduced a debit card that allowed UK-based users to make purchases in Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC) and other digital assets. Coinbase later expanded the reach of the service to numerous European countries and the US.
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