Visa says it is not slowing down plans for crypto products

Payments company Visa has said it is not slowing down its cryptocurrency plans – despite news reports suggesting otherwise amid a brutal bear market.

The American company’s head of Crypto Cuy Sheffield said in a series of tweets on Tuesday that a Reuters the story claiming both Visa and Mastercard were slowing their crypto push was “inaccurate” when it comes to Visa.

He added that “despite the challenges and uncertainties in the crypto ecosystem,” Visa believes that “fiat-backed digital currencies running on public blockchains have the potential to play an important role in the payments ecosystem.”

Visa has been working in the crypto space for a while, but things have slowed down lately: In November it was ended its global credit card deals with failed crypto exchange FTX.

The company had announced plans to roll out cards to 40 new countries as part of a “long-term global partnership” – but pulled the plug when the crypto company went bankrupt.

FTX went bankrupt in a highly publicized crash and is now being investigated for criminal mismanagement. Prosecutors claim the firm commingled client funds; ex-boss Sam Bankman-Fried now faces 12 charges.

Visa too archived new trademark applications back in October, which hinted at potential plans for a crypto wallet and a metaverse product. Crypto wallets, such as MetaMask or Phantom, are used to store digital assets such as Bitcoin or Ethereum and make payments. Meanwhile, the metaverse refers to a shared virtual world online, and has become a focal point for various crypto and fintech companies.

The collapse of the mega exchange FTX and the contagion that has followed is forcing US lawmakers and regulators to come up with new ideas on how to regulate the space.

A spokesperson for Visa said so Decrypt: “Recent high-profile failures in the crypto sector are an important reminder that we have a long way to go before crypto becomes part of mainstream payments and financial services.”

The spokesperson added that Visa remains “focused on expanding our core competencies in the Web3 infrastructure layer and evaluating the blockchain protocols that drive crypto development.”