VISA AND MASTERCARD NOW CONVERT CRYPTO TO FIAT

Seaquake.io
3 min readApr 29, 2021

Visa is making Life easier for Crypto Traders

Visa announced that it has started receiving a virtual currency payment for the first time, marking a significant landmark for the 62-year-old organization. The payments giant specifically settled a deal using Cryptocurrency plumbing known as the Ethereum blockchain, a public accounting database based on Bitcoin technology.

A Visa affiliate, Crypto.com, a Hong Kong-based issuer of Cryptocurrency-backed prepaid cards, sent Visa a US dollar-pegged virtual currency known as USD Coin, or USDC. To approve the payment, Visa said it collaborated with Anchorage, a Visa-backed blockchain startup and one of the United States’ newest federally chartered banks.

According to Visa, the switch is part of a pilot initiative designed to make it simpler for Cryptocurrency companies. Visa seeks to do away with the inconvenience of asking consumers to exchange their Cryptocurrency reserves into fiat, such as US dollars, before clearing their accounts on the Visa network. Later this year, the company expects to extend the functionality to other users of the payment networks and potentially other virtual currencies.

Mastercard will now allow merchants to accept selected Cryptocurrencies on its network

Also, Mastercard has confirmed that it will begin supporting selected Cryptocurrencies directly on its payment platform this year. Mastercard announced the transition in February, claiming that it would provide “more options for shoppers and retailers,” allowing them to transfer digital value — conventional or crypto — in a modern mode of payment.

Unlike Mastercard’s previous blockchain ventures, such as collaborations with Wirex and BitPay to sell Cryptocurrency debit cards, this move will specifically endorse digital assets on Mastercard’s network. Previously, Cryptocurrencies were not routed into the Mastercard network. Instead, Mastercard’s blockchain partners will translate the digital assets to conventional currencies on their end before transmitting them through the Mastercard network.

Mastercard reported that its native support would enable even more retailers to embrace Cryptocurrency while also eliminating inefficiencies in the process, allowing shoppers and merchants to stop exchanging Cryptocurrency for conventional currency-made transactions. Merchants will be able to explicitly settle in the supported Cryptocurrencies as a result of this.

Any of today’s more famous Cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and Dogecoin, would more definitely not be funded. In its announcement, Mastercard outlined four conditions for evaluating Cryptocurrencies for future integration, implying that only stable coins — those pegged to conventional currency to prevent significant price swings — will be qualified. Mastercard’s four conditions are as follows:

• Strong consumer safeguards, such as anonymity and data security for customers

• Stringent regulatory procedures, such as Know Your Customer (KYC)

• Strict compliance with all relevant laws and regulations in the areas where the transactions occur

• payment functionality, like budget consistency — not as an investment

Mastercard has confirmed that it is closely working with “several global central banks” as they study preparations to introduce future central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Last year, Mastercard developed a research tool for central banks to measure and analyze CBDCs in a virtual world. The company has said that it intends to continue these collaborations.

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