Visa’s crypto strategy targets stablecoin settlements

by Arthur · February 10, 2023

Payments company Visa is seeking to build “muscle memory” around settlements, with plans to let customers convert digital assets into fiat currencies on its platform, according to a presentation by the company’s crypto division head at StarkWare Sessions 2023.

“We’ve tested how we actually accept settlement payments from issuers in USDC that start on Ethereum and pay out in USDC (USDC) on Ethereum. So these are high-value settlement payments,” said Cuy Sheffield during a fireside chat at the event. Cointelegraph’s team is on the ground in Tel Aviv covering the two-day Ethereum Community Conference.

According to the director, global settlement of digital assets and fiat currencies is one of the avenues that Visa is investing in. He specifically stated:

“That has been one of the areas where we want to build muscle memory. In the same way that we can convert between dollars into euros on a cross-border transaction, we should be able to convert between digital tokenized dollars and traditional dollars.”

The payments giant has been exploring how to incorporate blockchain technology into its existing network to move money faster, but settlements still take place on the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications, or SWIFT system, a not-for-profit cooperative formed by European bankers for the purpose to facilitate secure and standardized transactional communication between members.

“We’re putting all over Swift, so we can’t move money as often as we’d like because there are a number of limitations in these networks. And so, we’ve been experimenting, we announced publicly. We’ve been testing how we actually accept settlement payments [with stablecoins]”, Sheffield explained.

Speaking recently at Visa’s annual shareholder meeting, former CEO Al Kelly briefly shared the firm’s plans for central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and private stablecoins, asserting that “stablecoins and central bank digital currencies have the potential to play a meaningful role in the payments space. , and we has a number of initiatives underway.”

Sheffield confirmed the company’s views on blockchain technology and digital assets. “We’re thinking a lot about how we can take some of the value that Visa provides on existing banking rails, with existing forms of beyond in a redevelopment like on top of blockchain rails, using stable boards. If we think there’s great opportunity in that area, it just keeps popping up.”