Visa reports over $1 billion in crypto spending in H1 2021

Global payments giant Visa will continue to support the development and adoption of the cryptocurrency industry as part of its business, the company said in its latest crypto update. In an official statement on Wednesday, Visa announced that its crypto-enabled cards processed more than $1 billion in total spending in the first half of 2021. The company noted that Visa is partnering with 50 major companies in the crypto industry as well as crypto card programs enabling users to convert and spend digital currency at 70 million merchants worldwide. Given the size of spending on Visa crypto-linked cards, the company said that “it’s clear that the crypto community sees value in linking digital currencies to Visa’s global network.”

Visa emphasized that its digital currency support does not require global merchants to accept cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) directly though. As previously reported, Visa has been working with major crypto players like cryptocurrency exchange platform Crypto.com to enable a crypto settlement system for fiat transactions. The company has also been closely working with other major crypto companies like FTX exchange, Coinbase, CoinZoom, and others.

The firm also stated that stablecoins — cryptocurrencies pegged to the value of other assets or fiat currencies like the United States dollar — are “starting to live up the promise of digital fiat,” outlining its developer-friendly features combined with the reliability of fiat-backed reserves.

Visa reports over $1 billion in crypto spending in H1 2021, Bloomberg, Jul 8