Visa – which controls around 80% of the global card payments market – is moving into crypto consulting. The company plans to advise clients who want to navigate the world of crypto. And it already has a bank signed up – UMB Bank in Kansas City. Most bafflingly, Visa claims it wants to help drive mainstream adoption of cryptocurrency.
There are two ways to look at Visa entering the crypto market.
- It’s a sign of validation. If the all-powerful Visa is embracing crypto, that must mean crypto is entering the mainstream.
- It’s a sign that something is very wrong. Crypto is meant to dismantle Visa. So why would Visa embrace it?
We’re leaning toward the latter, more skeptical outlook. In this episode of Crypto Insider, Vin Narayanan and Andy Gordon discuss Visa’s potential play to co-opt the crypto network, the crypto community’s history of being tethered to major banks, the broken system of card payment fees and more.
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