This is the first time Visa has given a principal membership to a cryptocurrency company. Accordingly, Coinbase will be able to issue account cards for others
Forbes reports credit card giant Visa has given a principal membership to a cryptocurrency company for the first time.
The authorization, officially granted to cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase in December but newly announced, allows Visa to take out a key and expensive intermediary in issuing account cards that allow Bitcoin, Ether and ripples to be spent in passing places.
More importantly, along with its substantive membership, Coinbase became the first cryptocurrency company to have the authority to issue account cards for other companies, including other cryptocurrency companies and more traditional companies. Visa confirmed the membership, but stressed that it would not accept cryptocurrencies itself when the project is implemented towards the end of this year.
Although Coinbase has said it does not plan to issue cards for others anytime soon, its substantive membership status will be a potentially significant new source of revenue for the company, whose profits fell 40 per cent last year, according to Forbes estimates.
Facilitating the process of spending cryptocurrencies where Visa is accepted, it could also expand the use of Bitcoin, Ether, XRP and others. Regardless of whether the seller accepts cryptocurrencies, the use of cryptocurrencies in daily purchases may increase.
Zaeshan Feroz, Coinbase UK’s chief executive, said: “your Bitcoins were never liquid. Because you had to go through the process of selling, withdrawing and spending the money. It was never instantaneous. What the card is trying to change is the logic of cryptocurrency. Now it’s really expendable in real time.” said.
