Visa In Talks With Wallet Companies To Make Bitcoin Accepted As Payment Across The World, Says CEO

Visa Inc V is reportedly in talks with Bitcoin wallet companies to enable the digital currency as an accepted means of payment worldwide.

What Happened: According to the company’s CEO Alfred Kelly, Visa is working towards a “multipronged strategy” involving Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

In a recent podcast with Fortune, Kelly said, “We’re trying to do two things. One is enabling the purchase of bitcoin on Visa credentials. And secondly, working with some bitcoin wallets to allow the bitcoin to be translated into a fiat currency and therefore immediately be able to be used at any of the 70 million places around the world where Visa is accepted."

Kelly went on to disclose that Visa is currently working with 35 different players in the digital currency space in order to further its efforts to make Bitcoin an accepted means of payment.

The CEO further categorized cryptocurrencies into two buckets – Bitcoin, which acts as a store of value or “digital gold,” and another category of all other digital currencies.

“There we see strong potential for those to become a new payment vehicle,” explained Kelly, adding that these other digital currencies have the potential to become an accelerant in some emerging markets around the world.

Why It Matters: Earlier this year, Visa announced partnerships with crypto banking startups Anchorage and First Boulevard with the aim of expanding its digital currency roadmap.

The payment giant’s digital asset strategy has been somewhat similar to Mastercard Inc MA. Mastercard has partnered with Bitpay and Wirex to create cryptocurrency cards, and the company revealed in a recent blog that there are more crypto collaborations in the pipeline.

Price Action: Bitcoin was trading at $59,133 at the time of writing, up 4.34% in the past 24-hours.

Posted In: CryptocurrencyFintechNewsManagementMarketsBitcoincryptocurrenciesFortunepayments
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