Visa today made an announcement that it will soon be connecting its payment network to USDC, which is a stablecoin backed by Circle Internet Financial. USDC is currently available on Ethereum, Algorand and Solana network.
In January 2021, USDC will be coming to Stellar which will have strong network effect on Stellar’s blockchain.
Current marketcap of USDC is around ~$3 billion. So what does this means for Visa and USDC? Well, the company behind USDC, Circle will be working with Visa to allow certain issuers of Visa credit cards to integrate USDC software. This integration will allow these issuers to manage USDC payments.
And since USDC is a cryptocurrency, businesses will be able to send international payments to any around the world instantly. The receivers will be able to convert these funds into their native currency. This is a part of Visa’s Fast Track program which will also allow Visa to issue credit cards to let businesses manage USDC payments, making it the first corporate card to give this special functionality.
Infact, Visa has already chosen 25 cryptocurrency wallets to offer this functionality. This includes popular wallets like Fold wallet, Cred and BlockFi.
Visa wants to settle its $120 trillion payments using cryptocurrencies which will save a lot of money. For instance, it currently costs $50 to settle checks and wire transfers. If Visa starts settling these payments on Ethereum network, it would be able to settle the payments for few dollars.
And once USDC and Stellar integration is complete, payment settlement would be almost zero and instant.
USDC was first introduced in September 2018 and is backed by 1:1 by USD. All USD accounts are audited by Grant Thornton to ensure USDC’s circulating supply is equal to dollars kept in Circle’s bank accounts.
