Visa Introduces Crypto Advisory Services

In another indication of crypto domination across the financial sector, payments giant Visa announced the launch of its global crypto advisory services. According to the executive of the payments firm, their clients’ mindset has shifted significantly in the last year. They said that people had gone from exploring and experimenting with crypto to developing a strategy, along with a product roadmap. The launch of the new services was announced on Wednesday, which would be offered through Visa Consulting & Analytics (VCA). The company noted that digital currencies were taking a greater hold, which had prompted this move. 

Visa explained that its product experts and consultants had worked with more than 60 crypto platforms in order to gain some expertise. The company said that they could assist financial institutions in evaluating crypto opportunities, developing strong strategies as well as piloting new innovations and user experiences, such as consumer wallets integrated with CBDC and crypto reward programs. Head of consulting and analytics of Visa Europe, Claudio Di Nella said that clients were now taking a greater interest in crypto and were willing to build a strategy instead of just exploring. UMB Bank’s executive vice president, Uma Wilson stated that they had come to Visa for learning more about stablecoins and cryptocurrencies and their use cases that would be the most relevant to their commercial and retail business lines.

A report was also released by Visa titled ‘The Crypto Phenomenon: Consumer Attitudes and Usage’ on Wednesday. This comprises a survey conducted in eight markets, including Germany, Brazil, Argentina, the UK, South Africa, Germany, and the United States. A total of 6,000 financial decision-makers in these regions participated in the survey. The findings of the survey disclosed that crypto awareness has become almost universal globally at 94% amongst the participants who are in control of their household finances. 

Furthermore, it found that almost one in three adults who are already aware of cryptocurrencies either own or use a cryptocurrency. Almost 62% of these people have also increased their use of crypto in the last year. According to the survey, 81% of the currency crypto owners have shown an interest in cards that are linked to cryptocurrencies and also allow them to spend their crypto and convert it at the retailers they are shopping at, quite similar to how debit or credit cards are used. Apart from that, 84% of these crypto users showed they’re interested in crypto rewards that allow them to get rewards in the form of crypto for their card spending.

The head of the crypto at Visa, Cuy Sheffield noted recently that crypto was becoming cool and cultural. He said that a whole new group of mainstream consumers was now venturing into the crypto space because of the introduction of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Visa had also participated in a funding round this week for TRM, which is a crypto platform aimed at transaction monitoring and forensics. Along with Visa, other payment companies, such as the likes of PayPal and MasterCard have also ventured into the crypto space because of the growing interest in the market. 

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