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Visa has joined forces with over 65 crypto exchanges and platforms, and it has gained big profits for the usage of crypto-linked cards. The company revealed it had surpassed the $2.5 billion mark in the first fiscal quarter, which is already equivalent to 70% of the payment volume for the 2021 fiscal year.
As per Bitcoin.com, the partnership with crypto companies is part of Visa’s crypto strategy, and this was explained during the earnings call last week. The company is crediting its links to crypto platforms for its latest achievements in terms of profits.
“Many current trends in payments, including crypto, and wallets, are enabling new ways to pay and these represent opportunities for Visa,” Al Kelly, Visa’s chief executive officer, said during the conference. “We are also providing on-ramps for crypto players creating connectivity with fiat economies and there are more than 65 crypto platforms and exchanges that have partnered to issue Visa credentials.”
Kelly also explained that as Visa is linked to many crypto platforms, the consumers can now easily spend their digital currency at over 80 million merchants using their cards but the exact number could already be 100 million. In July of last year, Visa also achieved a new record when the usage for its crypto-linked cards already reached $1 billion in the first six months of 2021.
Visa has plans to continue associating itself and doing business related to cryptocurrency. However, the company has no intention of holding crypto on its balance sheet, at least for now, according to CNBC, but it has set up a crypto consulting service and invested in some crypto platforms as part of its efforts to in pushing for wider adoption of digital currencies.
Meanwhile, some of the crypto exchanges and platforms that have partnered with Visa include Circle, BlockFi, and Coinbase. The number is growing as it is also teaming up with crypto wallets worldwide.
“To us, this signals that consumers see utility in having a Visa card linked to an account at a crypto platform,” Visa’s chief financial officer, Vasant Prabhu, previously told CNBC in a phone interview. “There’s value in being able to access that liquidity, to fund purchases and manage expenses, and to do so instantly and seamlessly.”
