According to Visa, consumers spent more than $1 billion worth of cryptocurrencies on goods and services via crypto-linked cards in the first six months of 2021. Only a fraction of this amount was done in the same times last year (2020) and last to last year (2019), according to the firm's estimations. According to a CNBC report, Visa did not reveal any numbers.
On July 7, Visa CFO Vasant Prabhu told the news source, "We are trying a lot to establish an ecosystem that makes crypto money more useable and more like any other cash.”
People are looking at alternative methods to use cryptocurrencies for items that they would normally pay for with traditional currency, according to Prabhu. "There are numerous difficulties with regard to volatility. However, it is the responsibility of cryptocurrency owners to maintain and track their assets“, he added. Visa isn't the only company to see cryptocurrency's steady rise in popularity among customers.
In a research, Master card discovered that over 93 percent of North American consumers planned to utilise bitcoin or other developing payment technology in the coming year, such as biometrics, contactless payments, or QR code systems. "We see a lot of volume on our network of people buying cryptocurrencies at these various licenced exchanges," Prabhu said.
Visa also announced that the FTX cryptocurrency platform, established by billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried, will be included in its Fintech Fast Track programme, which has as one of its goals making cryptos smarter for consumer and business spending. According to the article, the payments company's CFO has no intentions to add cryptocurrencies to its balance sheet in the near future.
Coinbase made its Nasdaq debut in April, making it the first cryptocurrency-focused company to do so in the United States. While Bitcoin's success was largely due to its widespread use, its value has now plummeted.
Following a drop in crypto assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum on May 19, exchange disruptions have been observed around the world. Aber consumers and traders complained about trouble trading their digital assets, exchanges cited a variety of reasons for downtime.
