The CEOs of two major payment giants, Visa and PayPal, coincidentally stated: Cryptocurrency has enormous potential.

Both global payment giants PayPal and Visa have announced cryptocurrency-related services this year. Interestingly, despite the slowing momentum of Bitcoin, the CEOs of these two companies have recently coincidentally expressed that there is a significant demand and potential for cryptocurrencies.

Visa: "Well Positioned" in the Cryptocurrency Space

Visa CEO Al Kelly discussed the company's ambitions in the cryptocurrency space during Tuesday's earnings call, claiming that Visa is well positioned in this area. (Source)

Visa has adopted a multi-pronged strategy towards cryptocurrencies, not only incorporating Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies into its payment network but also including stablecoins like USDC and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) in its digital currency business landscape. The Visa CEO previously stated on a podcast that he sees Visa positioned at the intersection of traditional payment systems and new payment technologies.

During Tuesday's earnings call, Al Kelly reiterated several ways the company is involved in the cryptocurrency space, including "spending and buying cryptocurrencies," "providing cryptocurrency-related API services for financial institutions," and "settling transactions using stablecoins and CBDCs," among five major directions. Al Kelly stated:

"So, we're focused on five different opportunities that we see in this space, which we're very excited about, and I also think Visa is well-positioned in this regard."

Paypal: Cryptocurrency is Real

On the other hand, Paypal CEO Dan Schulman discussed cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, in an interview with Time Magazine. Dan Schulman first shared a story of how he used Paypal services to purchase shoes with Bitcoin. He pointed out that using cryptocurrencies for daily transactions only takes a few seconds, aligning with Paypal's mission of "helping to mainstream digital currencies by providing cryptocurrency services."

When asked about the impact of digital currency payments on the current financial system, Dan Schulman responded:

"Over the next five to ten years, you'll see more change in the financial system than over the past 10 to 20 years. The demand for crypto has exceeded our initial expectations by multiples, and there are many exciting things in that space."

Dan Schulman added that Paypal has actually been studying digital currencies and distributed ledger technology (DLT) for six years but only recently launched related services. The reason being that the market conditions were not mature at the time, the volatility of crypto assets was too high to be a viable currency, and many people still did not truly understand what they were getting into. We had to make sure it (cryptocurrency) became more mainstream so that we could work hand in hand with regulators and eventually release related products to the market.