Visa Makes Bombshell Announcement Regarding Cryptocurrencies

The world is a rapidly changing place these days, as our technological situation continues to evolve exponentially, and we come to rely ever more on the digital dimension to fulfill more and more of our basic societal needs.

We have already relocated a great many of our more boring tasks to the online realm, as email replaces snail mail, trips to the DMV are now made virtually, and, of course, the vast majority of our banking now occurs online as well.

With this rise in online finance came the concept of cryptocurrency:  Anonymous “coins” that were originally rewarded to “miners” who allowed their computing power to work on solving enormously difficult algorithms.

These coins have become big business in recent years, however, and it appears as though they are about to go mainstream.

Visa Inc said on Monday it will allow the use of the cryptocurrency USD Coin to settle transactions on its payment network, the latest sign of growing acceptance of digital currencies by the mainstream financial industry.

The company told Reuters it had launched the pilot program with payment and crypto platform Crypto.com and plans to offer the option to more partners later this year.

Bitcoin, the most popular crypto coin, jumped to a one-week high on the news, rising as much as 4.5% to $58,300 and heading back toward a record-high above $61,000 hit earlier this month.

Visa subsequently confirmed the news in a statement.

While the move may be a step in the direction of bringing crypto into the limelight, those who’ve long been in the game are quick to point out that USD Coin’s relationship with the US Dollar differentiates it from currencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, which are far more volatile.