Hassan Maishera
FTX, one of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, announced on Friday that it has partnered with the payment processing firm Visa. The partnership is designed to enable cryptocurrency payments in 40 countries around the world.
The payment giant is working with the cryptocurrency exchange to permit crypto payments in certain countries in Latin America, Europe, and Asia.
The cryptocurrency exchange will be issuing debit cards in these countries, making it easy for people to spend their cryptocurrencies at stores and other retail outlets. The FTX cards are already available to users in the United States and will now be made available to users in those 40 countries.
Visa CFO Vasant Prabhu told CNBC in a phone interview that this latest development allows customers to spend cryptocurrencies without moving those off an exchange like they would with any bank account. He added that;
“Even though values have come down, there’s still steady interest in crypto. We don’t have a position as a company on what the value of cryptocurrency should be, or whether it’s a good thing in the long run -- as long as people have things they want to buy, we want to facilitate it.”
This latest development marks Visa’s latest expansion into the cryptocurrency space. The payment giant has already partnered with numerous cryptocurrency firms, including FTX’s competitors such as Binance and Coinbase.
Rival Mastercard has also been expanding its presence in the cryptocurrency space. In recent months, Mastercard has partnered with Coinbase on NFTs and Bakkt to enable banks and merchants in its network to offer crypto-related services.
Another payment giant, American Express, has revealed the desire to use its cards and networks with stablecoins. However, the CEO revealed earlier this year that its users shouldn’t expect to see an AmEx crypto-linked card anytime soon.
FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried commented on the partnership with Visa. He acknowledged the fact that banks and other financial institutions are embracing cryptocurrencies now more than ever. He said;
“It’s a technology that we absolutely see disrupting traditional payment networks. There’s a decision you have to make as a traditional payments company: do you want to lean into this, or do you want to fight against it? I respect the fact that many of them are leaning into it.”
Bankman-Fried pointed out that enabling card payments were crucial to the market’s growth beyond its current role as speculative assets or store of value. He added that Visa’s partnership makes it easier for merchants in those 40 countries to accept cryptocurrencies without setting up proprietary technology. He added that;
“Many of these things are potentially cool and valuable in the United States but more so when you look globally. That’s where you’ll find places with really poor alternatives for payment rails and huge demand for something better.”
FTX reviews within and outside the United States have been positive, and this could attract many stock traders to the cryptocurrency trading platform. Also, the low FTX fees also mean that the cryptocurrency exchange is growing far more quickly than any other reputable crypto trading platform.
