In an interview with Forbes magazine, VISA Global Vice President of Fintech Terry Angelos said that many cryptocurrency companies had shown “significant interest” in working with them.
Terry Angelos, a Senior VISA executive, though he did not mention any companies by name, made clear that most wanted to connect to the payment processor’s network, which has more than 60 million merchants in more than 200 countries, the largest of its kind in the world.
Having first dabbled in some proofs of concepts in 2015, the payment processor joined (and left) the Libra Association, invested in custody provider Anchorage and became a member of the Chamber this week, as DiarioBitcoin reported, Digital Commerce, a Blockchain advocacy group in the US.
The Coinbase exchange has been Visa’s most prominent crypto partner. After initially collaborating on a branded payment card, Coinbase became a primary member earlier this year, granting it the right to issue Visa cards to other crypto companies.
But Angelos revealed that Visa has already “incorporated” 25 other crypto companies that are “in various stages of development.” He added that some have gone through his fast-track program, an initiative that gives selected startups an edge through guidance and support, as well as giving them access to his payment network.
When asked if Coinbase would be the only crypto company to be a senior member of Visa, Angelos said: “We have a few that are potentially in the queue.”
VISA and Blockchain
Angelos and Cuy Sheffield, Head of crypto at Visa, participated in the interview with Forbes. Here are some of his answers concerning Blockchain technology.
Sheffield talks about his task as head of crypto: “My main role is to understand how our growing set of clients, that is, fintech companies that may be adding crypto business lines or companies that are crypto natively can take advantage of the existing Visa products”.
About digital currencies, Sheffield comments: “We have been advancing our work on digital currency, both on the product side and in the research, for the last two years. However, while the strategy has continued to evolve, we haven’t talked much about it. In this void, we have seen different narratives and speculations about our activities, so the post was primarily to articulate why Visa is investing and spending time on digital currencies. We also wanted to expose some of the principles that guide our strategy”.
Forbes asks you to be more specific about Blockchain, and Angelos responds: “One of Visa’s important developments in recent years was its evolution to become a ‘network of networks’. This means initiating and ending transactions over various networks, some of which are owned by us and some of which are not, such as SWIFT or local ACH networks. In that context, although we do not do this today, we would think of interoperating with a Blockchain network that we do not control as if it were not different from a third-party real-time payment platform”.
By Jenson Nuñez
