Payments giant Visa announced that traditional banking platforms in Brazil will now include cryptocurrency services. According to Visa, it is working with many crypto companies to bring digital payment cards to the Brazilian market. Possible direct integration of bitcoin in payment services was also hinted at by the company. According to Eduardo Abreu, Visa’s vice president of new business in Brazil, the company plans to build applications (APIs) that combine traditional banks with cryptographic products.
In addition, the adoption of bitcoin is not new for Visa. The company already runs with 180 various currencies. Also, it has over 70 million businesses worldwide. “The idea now is to bring security expertise to the world of cryptocurrencies” Eduardo Abreu added.
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Visa also announced it is working with several national companies to issue cryptocurrency cards. Among these are Zro Bank, Alterbank, and Rippio, which will allow users to connect these to bank accounts. The Visa executive did not comment on a possible ETA for these developments.
The B2B development, Direct Bitcoin Payments and NFT technologies in Brazil.
In addition to developing a blockchain-based payment settlement system using smart contracts, Visa is prepping a blockchain-based B2B (business-to-business) platform. Abreu stated that the system was already being tested with some of the company’s customers and that there would be more updates in the future. This system would enhance transparency in payments among providers and suppliers, allowing everyone with access to the system to verify payments and deposits.
Visa also stated they will start testing direct bitcoin payments in the country. This means that transactions will allow bitcoin to be transferred to other accounts directly. This is completely different than what happens now with most crypto cards, where there has to be an intermediary that exchanges bitcoin for fiat money on the fly.
According to the CEO of Visa in Brazil, this functionality will be implemented this year. Also in the works for Brazil is an NFT initiative, according to Abreu. Visa has already jumped onto the NFT bandwagon by purchasing a Cryptopunk, a digital avatar on the Ethereum network, for $165K in ether, in August. A few months back, Visa stated its partnership with Coinbase, Binance, Crypto.com, and other exchanges.
