Stablecoins and encrypted payments take a big leap! Visa and Circle collaborate to promote USDC corporate payments.

Visa has announced a partnership with Circle, the developer of the second largest stablecoin USDC by market capitalization, to integrate USDC payment capabilities into Visa credit cards, enabling cryptocurrency payments to be used at over 60 million merchants worldwide through Visa's global payment network.

Driving Mainstream Adoption and Business Integration

According to a press release by Forbes, Circle will assist Visa in vetting credit card issuers and building the necessary infrastructure for USDC transactions; users will be able to make payments in USDC at merchants, which will then be automatically converted into local currency.

Currently, Circle is participating in Visa's Fast Track program, which aims to introduce the latest fintech to the Visa ecosystem. As part of this initiative, next year the two companies will also collaborate on issuing corporate credit cards, allowing businesses to make payments in USDC to Visa-supported companies, which can then be used at any Visa-accepting merchant or institution once the funds are automatically converted to local currency. Cuy Sheffield, Head of Crypto at Visa, stated:

This will be the first corporate card that allows businesses to send and receive USDC payments, and we believe this will significantly increase the utility of USDC for business customers.

Sheffield also emphasized that Visa is the main network in the payment network, while other blockchains, stablecoins like USDC, etc., are just additional networks, and believes that Visa will continue to provide immense value to users.

High Costs and Inefficiencies in Traditional Payments

Visa estimates that $120 trillion in payments are made annually through checks and wire transfers, with fees as high as $50 for each transaction regardless of the transaction size. Settlements with USDC on the Ethereum blockchain can be completed within 20 seconds. Therefore, Visa believes that many of its merchants will opt for this almost instant alternative payment solution. Sheffield mentioned:

We work closely with digital currency wallets to issue Visa credentials, and their ability to transact in USDC adds even more value for them.

It is understood that in 2019, Visa invested $40 million in digital currency infrastructure provider Anchorage. Visa's Fast Track program also includes multiple cryptocurrency wallets.

Interestingly, in 2019, Visa filed a patent for "DIGITAL FIAT CURRENCY," which could receive any central bank-issued fiat currency through blockchain technology and create digital currency, essentially digitizing fiat currencies from various central banks through blockchain technology. It was initially thought that Visa would launch its own stablecoin, but now it has chosen to collaborate with USDC.