Payments Giant Visa Optimistic of Crypto Sector Despite Recent Downturn

• Visa CEO Al Kelly stated that the company is still dedicated to cryptocurrency usage.
• The possibility of a shakeup in the executive team was also alluded to.

At the StarkWare Sessions 2023, Visa’s head of crypto business Cuy Sheffield said that the corporation aims to create a “muscle memory” to settlements by enabling clients to convert digital assets to fiat currency on its platform.

In a fireside discussion during the conference, Sheffield said:

“We’ve been testing how to actually accept settlement payments from issuers in USDC starting on Ethereum and paying out in USDC on Ethereum. So, these are large value settlement payments.” 

Focusing on Settlement Payments With Stablecoin

While efforts are underway to integrate blockchain technology into the payment giant’s existing network. Most settlements still occur through the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) system. A non-profit cooperative society created by European bankers to facilitate secure and standardized transaction correspondence between its members. Sheffield validated management’s optimism toward blockchain technology and cryptocurrency.

Sheffield further elaborated:

“We set all over Swift, so we can’t move money as frequently as we’d like because there are a number of limitations that exist in those networks. And so, we’ve been experimenting, we publicly announced. We’ve been testing how to actually accept settlement payments [with stablecoins].”

Visa CEO Al Kelly made the statement at Tuesday’s annual shareholder meeting. Saying the company is still dedicated to cryptocurrency usage despite the market’s recent volatility. The possibility of a shakeup in the executive team was also alluded to.

Kelly has said that despite the current downturn in the cryptocurrency sector, the firm has suffered no credit losses and that any investments made in cryptocurrency companies or funds were “immaterial.” In answer to a shareholder query presented by a Visa official at the meeting, Kelly indicated that stablecoins, a kind of cryptocurrency often tethered to a fiat currency, remain promise.