Visa to drive mass adoption of Bitcoin

Payment giant Visa announced the creation of a new consulting division that will help clients navigate cryptocurrencies. This is according to CNBC.

The unit, which will be part of the Consulting and Analytics department, will offer advisory services to financial institutions, retailers and other firms on all matters, ranging from deploying cryptocurrency capabilities to studying non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

According to Nikola Plecas, head of the company’s crypto business in Europe, the move is the next step in advancing the digital assets space. Since October 2020 the payment network has processed crypto-related transactions totaling $3.5 billion, he noted.

Some of the industry’s leading exchanges have millions, and in some cases tens of millions of users,

The firm is also developing products aimed at stablecoins and central bank digital currencies.

Visa expects its cryptocurrency consulting services to help drive the mass adoption of Bitcoin and other digital assets, as the company seeks to move beyond the card payments business.

“Cryptocurrencies for us are a huge new theme and a growth opportunity. And we will continue to focus on growing this business as we move forward,” said Plecas.

The company, together with marketing firm LRW, conducted a study that showed that 94% of people worldwide have some level of awareness of cryptocurrencies. Almost a third have used them as investments or as a means of payment.

Earlier, Visa purchased one of the CryptoPunk NFTs for around $150,000 in Ethereum, and also launched an initiative to popularise digital collectible assets.