Alfred Kelly, CEO, Visa, while appearing on CNBC’s ‘Mad Money’, said that Visa will facilitate payments regardless of ‘the currency behind it.’
However, Kelly noted that, at the moment, virtual currencies do not have any negative effects to Visa “but the credit card giant is prepared to implement crypto-friendly systems” as the crypto market matures, reported CNBC.
“If we actually think that crypto starts moving from being more of a commodity to actually really being a payment instrument. If it goes in that direction, we will move in that direction,” said Alfred adding that Visa seeks to be in the “middle of every payment flow in the world regardless of how it happens or what the currency is behind it.”
With Kelly only giving short and medium-term plans for Visa regarding cryptocurrency, the view may change in the near future as cryptocurrency projects continue to improve their platforms to handle a higher number of transactions per second.
Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Litecoin are being adopted by merchants across the globe. As the merchants continue adding crypto as a payment option for their customers, Visa may shift its current position.
From Kelly’s comments, it is clear that Visa is warming up to cryptocurrency. Early this year, Vasant Prabhu, CFO, Visa, took a hard approach to virtual currency even pointing that crypto is for the ‘crooks and dirty politicians’. Prabhu continued to note that cryptocurrencies are for those “who have no idea what they are doing.”
But with Kelly’s recent comments, Visa maybe slowly taking a softer approach due to the developments happening in the crypto space.
“I strongly believe that cryptocurrency is about to go mainstream,” said Marc O’Brien, Ex Visa U.K CEO. Marc is now the head of a cryptocurrency-affiliated startup.
With Kelly noting that Visa will facilitate payments regardless of ‘the currency behind it’, do you think he is seeing it happening in the near future?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
