Visa's crypto partnerships grow by 43% in four months
Visa now has 50 active partnerships, up from 35 just four months ago, the company's head of crypto, Cuy Sheffield, told The Block. That means 50 crypto firms have launched or are set to launch debit and credit cards with the payments technology giant.
Some of the notable partnerships include those with Coinbase, Binance, Crypto.com, and others. These firms offer Visa-linked debit cards, which help their customers to spend cryptocurrencies at Visa's global network of 70 million merchants. BlockFi, on the other hand, offers a Visa credit card that allows customers to spend fiat and get rewards in crypto.
"We've seen a lot of momentum since we first set out on this journey," Sheffield told The Block. "As we look to the future, cryptocurrency and stablecoins are on track to become an important part of the broader digital transformation of financial services, and we're excited to help shape and support that development."
Crypto exchange FTX is the latest firm to partner with Visa. FTX has joined Visa's Fintech Fast Track Program, which helps firms to launch card programs, among other things. It is not clear whether FTX is going to launch a Visa-linked card. The exchange operator's CEO Sam Bankman-Fried did not respond to The Block's request for comment by press time. FTX's U.S. entity, FTX.US, currently offers a Visa-linked debit card, which is powered by Swipe — a Binance-owned crypto cards provider.
