The financial services corporation – Visa – collaborated with the cryptocurrency exchange – FTX – to offer debit cards in 40 countries across the globe.
The cards are already available in the United States and will reach other Asian, Latin America, and European nations soon.
Visa’s Next Crypto Move
In an interview for CNBC, Visa’s Chief Financial Officer – Vasant Prabhu – noted that the ongoing crypto winter has not deterred the interest in digital currencies.
He explained that the cards launched by his firm and Visa link directly to the 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 value of the cryptocurrency market would be in the long run or whether it is an appropriate investment instrument. However, he asserted that the company will provide digital asset services as long as people are intrigued by the sector.
FTX’s Founder and CEO – Sam Bankman-Fried – commented that traditional payment firms should choose whether to embrace the crypto industry or “fight against it.” He praised the decision of numerous such companies, including Visa, to select the first option.
SBF revealed that the cards are already available on American soil. In his view, though, they could be much more beneficial in other countries where national currencies have depreciated to worrying levels, such as Turkey and Argentina:
“Many of these things are potentially cool and valuable in the United States but more so when you look globally. That’s where you’ll find places with really poor alternatives for payment rails and huge demand for something better.”
It is worth noting that the collaboration between Visa and FTX positively affected the platform’s native token – FTT. Several hours ago, it spiked above $25.60 – a record price for the past three weeks.
Visa’s Partnerships With the Rivals
Earlier this year, the payment processor shook hands with the largest crypto exchange – Binance – to launch a similar card. Customers should pre-load it with digital assets if they want to use it.
They can settle bills with it at more than 60 million merchants across 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.
Prior to 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. Later, Coinbase expanded the reach of the service to numerous European countries and the US.
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