Visa CEO: Visa is working to 'support bitcoin purchases'

Visa CEO Al Kelly said the payments giant is looking to buy bitcoin using Visa credentials.

in short
Visa’s CEO, Al Kelly, said that Visa is looking to buy bitcoin through vouchers.
The company also believes that the fiat-backed digital currency has the potential to become a new payment tool.

Al Kelly, CEO of payments giant Visa, said on Fortune's Leadership Next podcast that the company is looking into ways to support the use of Visa credentials to buy bitcoin.

Kelly explained: “We’re trying to do two things: one is to buy bitcoin with Visa credentials, and the second is to work with some bitcoin wallets to allow the conversion of bitcoin to fiat.”

He added that the immediate conversion of cryptocurrencies to fiat will allow some 70 million merchants around the world to accept BTC as a payment method.

Visa CEO: Visa is working to 'support bitcoin purchases'

In addition to facilitating bitcoin purchases, Visa also works with fiat-backed digital currencies.

Kelly pointed out that we believe that these currencies have a lot of potential to become a new payment tool and play a catalytic role in emerging markets. He added that Visa is working with about 35 players in the digital currency space.

Visa’s partners with platform and wallet providers include BlockFi, Fold, and Crypto.com; the latest addition to the list is First Boulevard, which Visa recently selected as a partner for its new crypto API project.

Kelly said small businesses are among the losers during the COVID-19 pandemic. By adding support for Bitcoin, the company hopes to help them overcome the negative effects of a year-long blockade and loss of revenue streams.

"Now is the time for real change, where everyone is accepted equally and no questions asked," he said.

The transformative potential of cryptocurrencies

This isn't the first time the Visa CEO has spoken about cryptocurrencies and their potential to transform the payments industry.

Last year, Kelly said the financial services company could see digital currencies run on the Visa network more regularly.

Kelly then spoke on Visa’s first-quarter 2021 earnings call in January, emphasizing the company’s unique strengths in helping cryptocurrencies be more secure, useful, and suitable for payments.

Kelly also touched on more specific details of the company’s strategic vision for cryptocurrencies during his January presentation.

In his view, one should distinguish Bitcoin from other variants of digital gold, stablecoins and fiat-backed central bank digital currencies (CDBCs).

He also noted that Visa sees Bitcoin as the most suitable cryptocurrency for collaboration, offering users the means to convert cryptocurrencies into fiat.

Visa's foray into the cryptocurrency space comes as rival MasterCard is also looking into the possibility of supporting certain cryptocurrency payments.

However, Bitcoin is unlikely to be included in this list, as the company believes the largest cryptocurrency is too volatile to be suitable as a payment tool.