Visa entered into its first partnership with a crypto company in six months. By signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the crypto exchange WhiteBIT, the payments giant opens the door to a sector that it has left out in the cold for months.
In addition to embracing partnerships, recent technology announcements indicate that crypto is finally back in favor at Visa.
Visa’s Crypto Vision has been on ice for six months
In February, Visa and Mastercard put the brakes on plans to partner with crypto firms in the wake of bankruptcies and market collapses that had rocked the sector in recent months. A Visa spokesperson noted:
“Recent high-profile failures in the crypto sector are an important reminder that we still have a long way to go before crypto becomes part of mainstream payments and financial services,”
Visa and Mastercard have played a major role in blockchain innovation, especially in TradFi and banking. Their absence is palpable in the sector.
WhiteBIT and Visa are working together to promote mainstream crypto adoption
Perhaps the most important way Visa can support crypto companies is through its connection to major banks. After all, the Visa network is the largest card network in the world. Visa currently processed approximately 242 billion transactions last year.
In a press release Announcing the latest MoU, WhiteBIT revealed that it plans to leverage Visa’s extensive network of banking and FinTech partners. The release states that:
“The collaboration aims to support WhiteBIT in building lasting relationships with banks and fintech companies that are Visa partners and are interested in implementing crypto-related products.”
Yevgen Lisnyak, Senior Director, Head of Strategic Partnerships, Fintech and Ventures, Visa CISSEE said the company “sees great potential in cryptocurrency-related products.”
He added that the new MoU would help WhiteBIT collaborate with banks to launch card programs and integrate cryptocurrencies into the mainstream financial sector.
Visa is exploring card-based payments for gas costs
In another indication that Visa is putting its weight behind cryptocurrency mainstreaming, the company announced that it tested a technique this week to enable card-based Ethereum gas fees.
To do this, Visa used the ERC-4337 standard and a payment master contract to conduct Ethereum transactions without requiring the user to directly own ETH.
The company has successfully tested the idea on the Ethereum Goerli testnet. Furthermore, it is now exploring how the concept can be used to reduce friction for Ethereum users.