The announcements were made at the StarkWare Sessions 2023, where a senior Visa executive expressed the firm’s strategy regarding crypto and blockchain.
At the recently held StarkWare Sessions 2023 at Tel Aviv, Israel, a series of discussions ensued on crypto and the way forward for the industry. Visa made a revelation at the event, claiming that it would soon allow for the conversion of digital assets to fiat currencies, enabling customers to make the conversion on its platform. It was stated by the head of Visa’s crypto division, Cuy Sheffield.
He said they were going to deal with large value settlement payments, between stablecoins and fiat currencies. He further stated, “That’s been one of the areas where we want to build muscle memory. The same way that we can convert between dollars in euros on a cross-border transaction, we should be able to convert between digital tokenized dollars and traditional dollars.”
At present, the most widely used system for settlements is the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications, also called the SWIFT system. Visa has been trying to incorporate blockchain technologies in such payment mechanisms for faster settlements. Sheffield reiterated the same, admitting limitations in the SWIFT network, due to which Visa was experimenting with accepting settlement payments through stablecoins.
At Visa’s annual shareholder meeting held recently, its former CEO Al Kelly noted the importance of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and private stablecoins and underlined the company’s upcoming plans for the same. Sheffield also explained the vision of Visa regarding crypto and blockchain at the StarkWare Sessions 2023.