March end, 2021. Visa proposes that cryptocurrency USD coin can be used to settle transactions on its payment network. Its pilot programme uses the crypto platform crypto.com. However, if the platform uses Visa card to pay for coffee, the digital currency in a cryptocurrency wallet will have to be converted into traditional money. The cryptocurrency wallet deposits traditional fiat currency in a bank account to be wired to visa at the end of the day to settle the transactions. It adds cost and complexity to the transaction.

Instead, Visa can use the blockchain, thus bypassing the need to convert digital coin into traditional money in order to settle the transaction. Visa partnered with Anchorage, a digital asset bank in March 2021, and completed first transaction this month with crypto.com, sending USDC to Visa’s Ethereum blockchain address at Anchorage.

USDC is a stable-coin cryptocurrency whose value is pegged directly to the US dollar.