By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com – Visa (NYSE:V) shares extended their recent gains by more than 2% in Thursday’s trade, a momentum built on the credit card company’s plan to start using cryptocurrencies to settle transactions.
The company two days ago said it will allow the use of cryptocurrency USDC/USD to settle transactions on its payment network, the latest sign of growing acceptance of digital currencies by the mainstream financial industry.
USDC is a stablecoin cryptocurrency whose value is directly pegged against the U.S. dollar in a 1:1 ratio. It is based on the Ethereum blockchain, a rival to the more popular Bitcoin (BitfinexUSD).
Visa’s latest step strips out the need to convert digital coin into traditional money to settle the transaction. This feature wasn’t available earlier when users had to convert their cryptocurrency stored in a wallet into traditional money before they could complete the transaction.
The cryptocurrency wallet will deposit traditional fiat currency in a bank account, to be wired to Visa at the end of the day to settle any transactions, adding cost and complexity for businesses.
Visa joins an expanding list of companies embracing cryptocurrencies to offer a choice to users to settle transactions. It already includes PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL), BNY Mellon, BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) and Mastercard (NYSE:MA).