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- 1 Visa has collaborated with Solana to facilitate the cross-border payments done in stablecoins.
- 2 According to many industry experts, this is a watershed moment with plenty of possibilities.
- 3 The successful experiments of the pilot have got many crypto users and payment service providers excited.
The growing impact of crypto is now visible in the action of traditional giants of the finance world. First, it was BlockRock that filed the ETF for Bitcoin. Now, the global payment processor Visa is facilitating payments of stablecoins. Visa is now supporting the USD coin payments on the Solana blockchain. Apparently, the payment processor has taken this step to expand its stablecoin offerings.
Changing the Course of Cross-Border Transactions
Recently, Visa announced that it is conducting pilots with issuers and acquirers. Under the program, it is transiting gazillions of USDC between assorted network holders. Notably, they belong to Ethereum and Solana. Visa is doing it to settle the fiat-based payments on decentralized protocols.
The announcement made the payment processor’s foray into the crypto space very clear. Its adoption of USDC also involves two other payment processors. It roped in Worldpay and Nuvei to integrate the advanced solutions that process transactions. Besides that, this step also works quite favorably for USDC
USDC stablecoin now has access to Visa’s vast payment ecosystem. The former can take advantage of the latter’s far-reaching network. Moreover, the stablecoin uses it for its other decentralized endeavors. It can utilize the blockchain to expand its Web3 projects. Cuy Sheffield, Visa’s head of crypto operations said that this is a watershed moment for the company.
He said that platforms USDC, Ethereum, and Solana will improve Visa’s cross-border settlement. Notably, the payment processor started trials with USDC in 2021. Back then, it teamed up with Crypto.com to examine stablecoin’s potential in issuance and settlements. The pilot leveraged the Ethereum-backed USDC to process international payments.
It ran these trials specifically on the Australian card program. Before this experiment, visa card transactions on Crypto.com had to go through a multiday currency conversion process. This resulted in a higher transfer fee and caused delays too. Now, USDC settlement will be processed very easily due to stablecoin involvement.
Additionally, Crypto.com brings a new Visa treasury-managed account integrated with the USD coin issuer circle. It would transit the USDC across borders using the Ethereum blockchain. The process will reduce the length and complexity of the international wire transfers. Jeremy Allaire, the co-founder and CEO of Circle said that this partnership will take blockchain innovation to a whole new level.
Furthermore, the integration of USDC facilitates Visa’s fund transfers to USDC holders. These would include Worldpay and Nuvei and this collaboration will reduce the time of settlement as well. It would further make the job of payment processors very easy. They would be able to use the Visa’s ecosystem to send digital assets across.
Jim Johnson, president of Worldpay merchant solutions, said this is a very significant development in the crypto space. He said that this arrangement would enable Worldpay to offer more choices to its customers. It would also beef up its treasury operations.
This development has certainly brought fiat and cryptocurrency closer. It makes the payment processing much better and more convenient for everyone. It is certainly one step ahead in embracing blockchain.
With a background in journalism, Ritika Sharma has worked with many reputed media firms focusing on general news such as politics and crime. She joined The Coin Republic as a reporter for crypto, and found a great passion for cryptocurrency, Web3, NFTs and other digital assets. She spends a lot of time researching and delving deeper into these concepts around the clock, and is a strong advocate for women in STEM.
