Visa to Settle Payments in USDC over Ethereum; A ‘Major Turning Point in Mainstream Crypto Adoption’
The second-largest stablecoin has added 7 billion to its total supply of almost 11 billion in just the three months of 2021.
Digital payments service provider Visa has announced support for stablecoin USDC as a native currency and settlement system on its network.
The USDC will now be used to settle the transaction with Visa over Ethereum ETH 0.18% Ethereum / USD ETHUSD $ 1,666.16
$3.000.18% Volume 5.92 b Change $3.00 Open $1,666.16 Circulating 122.37 m Market Cap 203.89 b 1 y Coinbase Predicts Substantial Growth of Newer L1 Chains & Institutionalization of Regulated DeFi 1 y A Possible Crypto Recovery Moving Into New Year, Risk-on Sentiments Send The Stock Market to Another Record High 1 y The Sandbox Game Is Migrating to Ethereum Sidechain Polygon and Launching A DAO in 2022 instead of the legacy banking system.
Cuy Sheffield Head of Crypto at Visa“We see increasing demand from consumers across the world to be able to access, hold and use digital currencies and we’re seeing demand from our clients to be able to build products that provide that access for consumers.”
This bridge between digital and traditional fiat currencies is made possible with Visa’s pilot program with payment and crypto platform Crypto.com. The exchange reported “record-breaking growth” over the last year.
Visa is also working with Anchorage, the first federally chartered digital asset bank, which is its exclusive digital currency settlement partner.
Throughout last year, Visa was working on establishing a pathway for digital currency settlement within its existing treasury infrastructure, a platform that the company says moves billions of dollars each day across thousands of institutions in more than 200 markets and 160 currencies.
All of this will also allow Visa to support central bank digital currencies (CBDC) directly.
The settlement layer for the world
USD Coin (USDC) is a fast-growing stablecoin whose supply has increased 7 billion in just the three months of 2021 to a total supply of almost 11 billion, the second-largest stablecoin after Tether (USDT). Last year, USDC supply went from a mere $521 million to nearly $4 billion.
“This is massive news, and marks a major turning point in mainstream adoption of crypto,” said Jeremy Allaire, co-founder & CEO of Circle, which along with Coinbase, created USD Coin.
The Ether community is excited, calling it “another step on Ethereum's journey to becoming the settlement layer for the world.”
With this connection to existing global networks, it will “accelerate (USDC’s) adoption as both a store of value and medium of exchange,” said Allaire.
Now any customer who has a USDC in a wallet and a card attached to their wallet can spend their USD-backed crypto at any Visa accepting merchant.
Jeremy Allaire Co-Founder & CEO of Circle“This is “Over-the-Top” (OTT) money, and a major step in our mission to build a new global economic system on a more open, global, safe and inclusive foundation built on crypto and blockchain tech.”
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