Visa handles USD coin transactions on Ethereum while it controls the program with Crypto.com

March 29, 2021 | Peter Wind

Key highlights:

• Visa is processing transactions with the USD Coin Stablecoin in a pilot program
• The program is carried out with Crypto.com and Anchorage
• Crypto.com uses USDC to fulfill some of the obligations associated with its crypto cards

Visa processes transactions on Ethereum in a pilot project with Crypto.com

The financial services heavyweight Visa continues to be committed to blockchain and crypto. The company announced today that it is piloting a program to process transactions using the USDCoin (USDC) stablecoin on the Ethereum blockchain.

Visa is running the pilot with Crypto.com, a cryptocurrency company perhaps best known for its Visa-powered prepaid crypto cards. In the pilot, Crypto.com uses USDC to fulfill part of the obligations associated with its crypto cards. Anchorage, a cryptocurrency company that signed a federal bank charter in the US in January, is also involved in the pilot. Anchorage retains the Ethereum address that Visa uses to receive USDC transactions from Crypto.com.

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In its press release, Visa says the ability to settle in a blockchain-based currency like USDC can be a big boost for cryptocurrency-based companies as companies no longer need to convert digital currencies into fiat currencies. The company also said efforts related to this pilot could help the Visa network support central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

Jack Forestell, Chief Product Officer at Visa, said of the pilot:

“Today’s announcement marks an important milestone in our ability to meet the needs of fintechs managing their business in a stable coin or cryptocurrency. It truly is an extension of our day-to-day operations and securely facilitating payments in all different currencies around the world . “”

Visa and Crypto.com recently announced a global partnership and Crypto.com also became a key member of Visa in Australia.

The news represents another positive move for USD Coin, but it is still a long way from overtaking Tether’s USDT as the number 1 stable coin. The market cap of USD Coin ($ 10.81 billion) is almost four times smaller than that of USDT ($ 39.74 billion). Still, USD Coin left all competitors in the dust except USDT – DAI, the third largest stablecoin, only has a market cap of $ 3.02 billion.