Visa crypto cards passes $1 billion of digital currency spending in first half of 2021

Visa Inc said on Wednesday it reports spending activity of more than a billion dollars worth of digital currency through its crypto-linked cards in the first half of 2021.

The $1 billion cryptocurrency transaction includes both complete crypto transactions and crypto rewards tied to fiat account. However, the company said it estimated crypto spending at only a fraction of that amount for the first six months of the last two years.

The payments giant did not provide exact numbers.

“We are doing a lot to create an ecosystem that makes cryptocurrency more usable and more like any other currency,” Visa CFO Vasant Prabhu told CNBC.

“People are exploring ways in which they can use cryptocurrencies for things they would use normal currencies for,” he said, adding that it is up to the owners of the cryptocurrencies to manage and track the digital asset as there are lots of issues relating to volatility.

The result is the outcome of the company’s partnerships with more than 50 crypto firms that have launched Visa-powered cards, along with crypto-finance companies like Circle, BlockFi, and Coinbase who allow cardholders to spend from their cryptocurrency wallet at more than 70 million merchants worldwide.

Visa is trying to give a significant push to merge cryptocurrencies with traditional banking through the crypto card program. The company added stablecoins to its payments network and working with banks for buying and selling crypto.

“We think the first piece of this is being the bridge between the crypto wallets and our existing network of merchants,” Cuy Sheffield, Visa’s Head of Crypto, told CoinDesk.

“Then the next part is making it easier for our clients to issue and interact with those cards with things like being able to settle USDC. Then we’re starting to spend a lot of time around how Visa can be a bridge between our existing network of financial institutions and the crypto ecosystem.”

Mastercard, the rival of Visa, in its recent survey, revealed that 93% of North American consumers would consider using at least one emerging payment method, such as cryptocurrency, biometrics, contactless, or QR code, in the next year.

The study also showed that 77% of millennials are interested in learning more about cryptocurrency, while 75% agree they would use cryptocurrency if they understood it better.

Visa estimated crypto-linked cards and other emerging payment methods have the potential to disrupt the $18 trillion spending activity done through cash and checks every year globally.

Visa also announced Sam Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency platform FTX Trading Ltd would be added to its Fintech Fast Track Program to make cryptocurrency more practical for consumer and business spending.

Prabhu told CNBC that Visa has no near-term plans to add any cryptocurrency to its balance sheet.

“We don’t hold cryptocurrencies on our balance sheet today. We hold currencies on our balance sheet that we need to run our business. We hold currencies that we get paid in, or we pay people in. That tends to be the dollar, euro, pound. So we don’t have plans to hold cryptocurrency because it’s not typically the way we get paid or the way we pay people,” he said.

Picture Credit: Coindesk