FTX partners with VISA to offer BTC and XRP to millions of users

• This collaboration is the latest addition to VISA’s over 70 crypto partnerships with various firms.
• VISA CFO says there is ongoing interest in crypto despite declining crypto prices.

Credit card payment giant, VISA, is convinced that crypto investors are still willing to spend their digital assets despite declining crypto prices this year. VISA is partnering with the popular crypto exchange, FTX, to provide debit cards in 40 nations across Europe, Latin America, and Asia. The card is directly linked with each holder’s FTX investing account.

VISA’s CFO, Vasant Prabhu, said the partnership would enable users to conduct transactions with crypto without needing to convert their cryptos to fiat or withdraw from the crypto exchange platform. Prabhu also said there is still a strong interest in crypto despite the drop in values.

As a company, we have no control over the value of digital currencies or whether it has a long-term positive effect. We want to simplify payment processes for people even when they want to process payments with crypto.

More crypto deals for VISA

VISA’s new partnership with FTX adds to its multiple crypto collaborations. The Credit Card firm has collaborations with Binance and Coinbase, which are FTX’s fiercest competitors. Another leader in the credit card space, MasterCard, has also been involved in several crypto partnership deals.

Two notable MasterCard crypto partnerships are with Coinbase and Bakkt. The former is to ease NFT payment transactions, while the latter allows banks and small business owners in the Bakkt network to provide crypto services. Another credit card firm, American Express, said it is developing a way to link its cards and network with stablecoins.

Stablecoins are usually dollar-pegged cryptocurrencies. However, they are sometimes pegged to other fiat currencies, such as the Euro. However, American Express CEO, Stephen Squeri, stated in an interview earlier in the year that the firm’s customers shouldn’t expect AmEx crypto cards “soon.” In a recent phone interview, FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried said he respects the fact that many traditional payments companies are embracing blockchain technology rather than fighting it.

He added that banks and payment firms’ embrace of cryptocurrency would help boost its market growth besides being a store of value or a speculative asset. This VISA-FTX partnership allows merchants to accept crypto payments without needing proprietary technology. Prabhu and Bankman-Fried admitted that emerging markets provide enormous opportunities, with inflation and currency volatility making digital assets more attractive than usual.

According to Bankman-Fried, this partnership and other similar ones are more valuable outside the US (such as Turkey and Argentina), with poor payment options and huge demand for better payment alternatives. Multiple data show that inflation rates in Argentina and Turkey are currently at 78 percent and 83 percent, respectively.