Visa, FTX team up to offer debit cards in 40 countries

In order to provide its debit card service to consumers in more than 40 countries, global payment processor Visa has teamed with cryptocurrency exchange FTX.

By simply connecting their Visa card to their custodial account, FTX customers will be able to convert their cryptocurrency into fiat thanks to the cooperation. The conversion process will be finished by Visa and FTX in the backend.

The corporations stated that they are trying to concentrate on emerging markets throughout Latin America, Asia, and Europe given the high rates of inflation in countries like Turkey and Argentina (83% and 78%, respectively).

The cooperation, according to FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, will make it simpler for businesses to accept cryptocurrencies and expand the use of cryptocurrencies beyond their status as speculative assets.

While Bankman-Fried claimed to CNBC that cryptocurrencies were created to challenge established payment methods, it is intriguing to observe how banks and payment providers are embracing the technology.

It is a technology that, according to Bankman-Fried, “definitely sees challenging established payment networks.” I honor the fact that so many of them are embracing it.

Despite a more than 50% decline in the cryptocurrency market in 2022, according to Visa CFO Vasant Prabhu, users are still interested in cryptocurrencies, with more of them storing stablecoins in their cryptocurrency accounts.

Payment giants flocking to crypto

To date, Visa has partnered with more than 70 cryptocurrency platforms, including Binance, to enable clients to use cryptocurrencies at 80 million merchant locations across the world.

In the crypto world, payment juggernaut Mastercard has also been making progress. Users may now buy NFTs directly with their Mastercard debit and credit cards thanks to a partnership between it and Coinbase.

PayPal said earlier in June that it has set up a payment gateway to make it simple for Americans to send, receive, and transfer cryptocurrency.