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Visa and Mastercard are leading payment providers across the world. - 2
Both are seeking to collaborate with crypto firms and leverage blockchain tech.
Popularity and broader adoption of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology inspired many entities to jump off within the nascent industry. However, the recent crypto winter started last year made the global crypto industry suffer through one of the worst phases. Many crypto projects and partnerships were put up on pedestal and it recently added two prominent names.
Reuters reported citing people with the knowledge of the issue that the payment giants Visa and Mastercard are not moving ahead towards partnering with crypto companies. The plans were put on hold in the wake of trembles which the crypto industry witnessed during the last year. Many prominent companies fell to the ground while facing the heavy headwinds due to the market downturn.
Major companies from crypto lender Celsius and BlockFi, crypto brokerage firm Voyager Digital, hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC) and once a leading crypto exchange FTX, went on to file for bankruptcies. Falling of such significant companies was enough to shatter the confidence within the industry. Hence explains traditional companies taking some steps back from crypto.
Visa and Mastercard reportedly come to an agreement to postpone launching certain crypto products and services. This is likely to be pushed back until the crypto market gets back on track and the stringent regulatory scrutiny over the industry to soften back.
Given several cryptocurrencies and crypto firms failing last year, financial watchdogs have intensified their scrutiny over the digital asset space. Recent actions of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against crypto staking offering services and statements of bringing crypto custodians within the existing custody regulations reflects the same.
Visa’s spokesperson said that high recent failures of ‘high-profile’ companies in the crypto industry was “an important reminder” which indicates that there is still time for crypto to become “a part of mainstream payments and financial services.” Crypto strategy and focus of the company does not change after this, he added.
However, the head of crypto at Visa, Cuy Sheffield, took to Twitter and denied the claims of the company’s retreat from its crypto exploration. In his Twitter thread, Sheffield noted that the company continues to collaborate with firms in the crypto space seeking “to improve fiat on and off ramps” and advance the company’s product roadmap. This would enable the company to build their new products focusing on providing a facility of secure and convenient stablecoin payments.
Along with crypto, both the companies are exploring their options with blockchain technology. Earlier TheCoinRepublic reported that Visa and Mastercard deployed blockchain to carry out their certain operations. Payment companies are looking towards taking advantage of cutting edge solutions like blockchain for offering the best of their services. In addition, they pledged to work towards developing more innovation using the technology.
Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2023/03/01/payment-giant-visa-denies-retreating-from-crypto-industry/