Multinational Payments Giant Visa Purchases Cryptopunk NFT for $165K in Ether

August 24, 2021 Bitcoin.com

Visa invests $150,000 in NFT CryptoPunk Asset

August 23, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Visa invests 0,000 in NFT CryptoPunk Asset

Adoption

Visa has made a sizable investment in the NFT space, acquiring a popular digitally pixelated CryptoPunk.

Credit card giant Visa has made a substantial splash on its emergence into the nonfungible token (NFT) space with a $150,000 acquisition of a CryptoPunk, the collective of digital artworks that pioneered the mainstream culture of the space back in 2017.

In a blog post announcement released on Monday, Cuy Sheffield, head of crypto at Visa and self-proclaimed NFT enthusiast, shared his views on the value of purchasing NFT assets in the digital economy, the vast growth of the market in the past few years, as well as Visa’s commercial incentives in this investment.

Sheffield claimed, “To help our clients and partners participate, we need a first-hand understanding of the infrastructure requirements for a global brand to purchase, store, and leverage an NFT.”

“The ability to track and leverage a digital asset in multiple environments could mean exciting new opportunities in ticketing, gaming music, art, and beyond,” he continued.

Visa purchased CryptoPunk 7610 — a female figure with a mohawk, clown green eyes and lipstick — which was first claimed back on June 23, 2017, and first sold a month later for a measly 0.6 Ether (ETH) ($114 at the time).

Utilizing blockchain’s native feature of an open ledger, one can see that Visa’s newly acquired asset was purchased on Wednesday for 49.50 ETH, equivalent to $149,939.

This considerable investment in the NFT market comes off the back of Visa’s pursuits in the cryptocurrency market. Its crypto-centric credit and debit cards reportedly processed an impressive $1 billion throughout the first half of 2021.

The NFT market witnessed parabolic growth throughout 2020, culminating with the historic sale of Beeple’s artwork “Everydays: The First 5000 Days,” which raised over $69 million at Christie’s auction house.

As we progress through the latter half of 2021, it seems that momentum in the space is once again growing. Heavyweight boxing legend Mike Tyson has recently released a series of tokenized collectibles on OpenSea.

According to recent figures, the platform has processed over 1.18 million transactions worth $1.06 billion in the last 30 days, up by a remarkable 12,000% in 2021.

Sheffield concluded his comments on the CryptoPunk by stating, “We’re a company steeped in the history of commerce and payments — but with our eyes on the future. With our CryptoPunk purchase, we’re jumping in feet first. This is just the beginning of our work in this space.”

Visa Spent $150,000 on a CryptoPunk NFT

August 23, 2021 The Crypto Briefing

Digital payment ecosystem MobileCoin raises $66M

August 18, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Digital payment ecosystem MobileCoin raises M

Coin Telegraph

Venture capital continues to back promising blockchain and crypto plays. Some of the industry’s biggest investors participated in MobileCoin’s Series B.

MobileCoin, a crypto-focused digital payment ecosystem, announced Wednesday that it has concluded a $66 million funding round as part of a wider effort to bring more of its products and services to market.

The Series B had participation from several leading venture funds from within the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry, including Alameda Research, BlockTower Capital and Coinbase Ventures. Berggruen Holdings, General Catalyst, Vy Capital and TIME Ventures also participated. Several entrepreneurs and investors also contributed to the funding round.

MobileCoin said the funding will be used to further develop its core crypto offerings, including MOBot, which is described as the “first cryptocurrency chatbot payment system.” The company also plans to expand its merchant services and introduce a new dollar-pegged stablecoin.

While many people view cryptocurrencies as an alternative asset class, the technology is considered a major catalyst for enabling seamless transactions on a global scale. The concept of peer-to-peer payments, for example, was an important part of Satoshi Nakamoto’s now famous Bitcoin (BTC) whitepaper. Today, several companies and protocols are working towards unlocking the value of crypto-based payment systems.

Companies that have long dominated the payment arena, such as Mastercard and PayPal, have already begun accepting cryptocurrency payments for their customers. During Mastercard’s second-quarter earnings call in August, CEO Michael Miebach said his company has to be in the cryptocurrency space “because people are looking for answers.”

As Cointelegraph reported, Visa has also reaffirmed its commitment to building crypto payment onramps. The payment giant is ultra bullish on stablecoins for their ability to transform global commerce.

Amid a Staggering 7,280% Rally, Alchemy Pay (ACH) Gears Up to Launch Major Crypto-Fiat Gateway

August 9, 2021 The Daily Hodl

Alchemy Pay to launch virtual crypto cards with Visa and Mastercard support

August 9, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Binance

Crypto payment firm Alchemy Pay is planning to roll out a crypto-linked virtual card that is accepted on the Visa and Mastercard payments networks.

Hybrid crypto-fiat platform Alchemy Pay announced Monday that the company will be launching virtual crypto-linked cards accepting more than 40 cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC).

The new cards can be linked to Google Pay and PayPal digital wallets, and make payments across the Mastercard and Visa networks, as well as popular e-commerce platforms like Amazon and eBay.

According to the announcement, Alchemy Pay has already completed the product’s development and launched beta testing in multiple key markets. The firm expects to proceed with a full roll-out of the new product at the end of 2021 or early 2022.

The new initiative is launched in response to growing demand for crypto-linked card transactions, allowing crypto businesses to offer a full range of services as well as to help traditional institutions integrate crypto-related solutions, Alchemy Pay said. As previously reported, Visa alone processed over $1 billion in total crypto spending in the first half of 2021.

Alchemy Pay did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comment.

The news comes shortly after Alchemy Pay last week partnered with Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volumes. As part of the integration with Alchemy Pay, Binance will unlock crypto payments across merchants of Alchemy Pay’s partners in 18 countries, including e-commerce giant Shopify, software technology company Arcadier, mobile payment provider QFPay and others. The new feature would be available through Binance’s payments application Binance Pay.

As previously reported by Cointelegraph, both Visa and Mastercard have been aggressively moving into the cryptocurrency industry over the past year.

After announcing payment compatibility for Circle’s stablecoin USD Coin (USDT) in late 2020, Visa has reaffirmed its commitment to crypto payments and fiat on-ramps, outlining a particular focus on stablecoin-based integrations. Mastercard has entered partnerships with Circle and blockchain firm Paxos to enable banks and crypto companies to roll out crypto cards globally.

Digital asset platform Zipmex partners with Visa in Asia Pacific

August 6, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Asia

Visa is continuing to extend its integration with regulated crypto companies worldwide.

Asia-Pacific crypto-fiat trading platform Zipmex has forged a strategic partnership with Visa in a bid to improve the convenience of its payment programs and products.

The platform's payment network ZipSend, designed to enable users to spend their crypto, will be integrated into Visa’s worldwide network of 70 million merchants. Following the partnership, Zipmex aims to release a Visa-branded payment card later this year.

Zipmex, which has compliant operations in Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and Australia, currently has a user base of over 200,000 and has reported over $1 billion in gross transaction volume since its launch in late 2019. The company has noted that any future payment product, such as a card, will still need to get the green light from the regulatory authorities in the relevant jurisdictions.

Zipmex CEO Marcus Lim has said that the platform’s bid to become a crypto payment card issuer has placed it in a position “to provide support and guidance to help regulators pass effective digital asset legislation. This has been one of the more fulfilling aspects of this project.”

As reported, crypto exchange and payment service provider Crypto.com has also inked a global partnership with Visa and has rolled out its card in multiple regions, including Asia-Pacific. In July, Visa announced that its crypto-enabled cards had processed more than $1 billion in total spending during the first half of 2021 alone.

With central bank digital currencies and private sector stablecoins drawing ever more attention from a legal and geopolitical perspective, both Visa and its rival Mastercard have been vying to ensure their services remain at the center of the latest developments in the digital asset space.

Visa’s CEO has this year argued that stablecoins’ blockchains could be thought of as payment rails similar to RPT or ACH networks. Mastercard has for its part announced recent partnerships with Circle, Paxos, Evolve Bank & Trust and others on a joint project to enable banks and crypto firms to roll out crypto cards that can be used anywhere that Mastercard is accepted.

The company has also recently announced a new startup engagement program as part of Mastercard Start Path to support fintechs and companies working with digital assets, crypto and blockchain technology.

On the consumer front, Coinbase announced this week that users with a Visa or Mastercard debit card linked to Apple Pay can now purchase crypto assets on its platform, with Google Pay integration to follow.

We have to be in the crypto space, Mastercard CEO says

July 30, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Adoption

Mastercard is angling to become the go-to for governments and private entities when testing and rolling out central bank digital currencies or stablecoins.

Traditional card networks are vying to ensure their services remain at the center of new developments in digital assets, whether they be central bank digital currencies or private sector stablecoins.

In an earnings call on July 29, Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach discussed recent developments in crypto and CBDCs, making the pitch that the company was well-positioned to remain a linchpin of intra- and international value flows:

"What we believe we do is bring a perspective to the market as a multi-rail payment provider. We have to be in this space because people are looking for answers."

Mastercard has been highly proactive in keeping up with innovations in digital currency, spurred, in part, by competition with its rival, Visa. In February, Mastercard unveiled plans to support crypto in 2021, paving the way for its nearly one billion users to spend their crypto at over 30 million supported merchants worldwide.

Earlier this week, the company announced a new startup engagement program as part of Mastercard Start Path – an accelerator program aiming to support fintechs and companies working with digital assets, cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. The latest to be onboarded include blockchain oracle startup SupraOracles, blockchain infrastructure provider STACS, digital asset firm Taurus and Mintable, a marketplace for issuing and trading NFTs.

On the public front, the company has also rolled out a virtual testing environment designed to help central banks to simulate issuance, distribution and transactions of CBDCs between multiple parties. The platform is geared for both wholesale and retail CBDC designs and offers practical insight into how, among many other possibilities, a CBDC could be interoperable with existing payment methods and be used to pay for everyday goods and services.

During the earnings call, Miebach argued: “All of these countries have to make a trade-off between existing delivery of financial products and what a CBDC is solving for, whether it's financial inclusion or cross-border payments. We have experience with all of that."

Nor is Mastercard overlooking the stablecoin sector, which has already seen successful currencies like Circle’s dollar-pegged USD Coin (USDC) and is poised for the launch of Facebook-affiliated Diem. Miebach confirmed that the company is readying its network to support stablecoin transactions, providing its issuers meet regulatory requirements and fulfill consumer protection and safety standards.

Visa’s CEO has this year made similarly bullish remarks regarding stablecoins, arguing that their blockchains can be thought of as payment rails similar to RPT or ACH networks. Nor is Visa averse to more volatile crypto assets, viewing them as a store-of-value for which the company can still provide fiat on-ramp services.

Eric Grover, a principal at Intrepid Ventures, told reporters this week that both stablecoins and CBDCs should be “in Mastercard and Visa’s wheelhouse” and that both card networks should engage with these developments “with gusto.”

Earlier this month, Mastercard announced fresh partnerships with Circle, Paxos, Evolve Bank & Trust, and many others on a joint project to enable banks and crypto companies to roll out crypto cards that can be used anywhere that Mastercard is accepted.

Paypal Plans to Study Transactions That Fund Extremism, Anti-Government Groups

July 28, 2021 Bitcoin.com

Crypto frenzy may be winding down, Visa CFO says

July 28, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Bitcoin Debit Card

This spring, crypto-related transactions using Visa were a significant boost to the company’s cross-border volume, although this effect is beginning to wane.

This year has seen unprecedented growth in the crypto markets, with lucrative knock-on effects for third parties like Visa. This, however, may already be beginning to dwindle, according to the company’s senior executives.

The payments giant’s newly released financial results for fiscal Q3 2021 show bullish figures for cross-border and overseas transactions — a key metric for analysts on the lookout for early signals of pandemic recovery.

Earlier this month, Visa revealed that its crypto-enabled cards had processed more than $1 billion in total spending for H1 2021, registering an impact on overseas volume as crypto users deposited funds into crypto platforms across various jurisdictions. These effects are still visible in the company’s latest results for Q3, with the report indicating that:

“Cross-border volume excluding transactions within Europe, which drive our international transaction revenues, increased 53% on a constant-dollar basis for the three months ended June 30, 2021. Total cross-border volume on a constant-dollar basis increased 47% in the quarter.”

In a fresh interview, however, Visa chief financial officer Vasant Prabhu said that much of the crypto-driven momentum behind higher cross-border spending was in fact limited to the first two months of the quarter.

Highlighting the spike in crypto purchases in April and May, Prabhu noted that it had begun to fall back by June. Given the faltering return to international travel, Prabhu warned that the cross-border volume could be poised to decline without being buoyed up by a booming crypto market.

The overall picture for the past quarter shows that Visa drew in significant revenues from its overseas transaction processing, which is significantly more lucrative for the firm than intra-national spending. Overall, the company reported a 34% year-on-year increase in payments using its cards — keeping in mind that much of the globe was under strict lockdowns last year. The company has also reported net revenues of $6.1 billion for Q3 2021, an increase of 27%, outstripping the $5.86 billion average of analysts’ estimates.

Among recent deals, the report notes Visa’s recent signature of a definitive agreement to acquire Currencycloud, a cross-border payments platform that supports roughly 500 banking and technology clients across over 180 countries. Currencycloud has recently entered a partnership with Ripple, the company behind XRP, to jointly explore new cross-border transactions mechanisms.

Visa

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