Binance stressed that credit and debit card payments will continue to be accepted and that non-USD bank transfers would still be processed through the SWIFT payment system.
Binance’s SWIFT banking partner set to ban USD transfers below $100K
American Express To Offer Their First Crypto Rewards Credit Card
American Express is rolling out it’s first-ever crypto rewards credit card as part of a partnership with Abra, according to a joint announcement at this week’s crypto conference Consensus in Austin.
The announcement is a move in the footsteps of other major credit card providers, most notably Visa and Mastercard, but is still a major call-out in crypto integration into the current credit card landscape. There are over 60M AmEx holders according to figures from earlier this year – and now the network will bring access to direct cryptocurrency rewards for spending for the first time ever with a partner card with Abra.
American Express And Abra Team Up
The ‘Abra Crypto Card’ was unveiled at the annual Consensus event in Austin, Texas today, and will offer crypto rewards for any purchase category and amount, according to the formal press release. Abra offers a platform token, ‘Crypto Perx’ (CPRX) that is expected to be alongside a variety (but thus far undisclosed) of top tokens as options for earning rewards. It was a big day for the team at Abra, who paired the American Express announcement with news that their app would support custody and gallery views of NFTs.
American Express’ president of Global Network Services Mohammed Badi stated that Abra brings “deep expertise in both crypto and traditional financial services” that makes them a fitting partner for the endeavor.
‘Crypto Perx,’ (CPRX) is the native platform ERC-20 token for Abra; the token saw strong positive price reaction to the news around Abra’s new credit card on the AmEx network. | Source: CPRX-USD on TradingView.com
Related Reading | Solana To Support DeFi, NFT, And GameFi In South Korea With A $100M Fund
Join The Club
Visa and Mastercard are two of the most commonly-recognized names in the credit card business, but don’t sleep on American Express, who is only behind Citibank, Chase, and the two aforementioned top dogs when it comes to card issuance. AmEx has carved out a long-time niche of serving top dollar customers and offering commensurate rewards.
The Abra card is expected to bring those rewards along with it too, with rewards from the slate of the AmEx network, including “Amex Offers (for shopping, travel, dining, services, entertainment, etc.), presale ticket access, Global Dining benefits, and purchase protections,” according to the press release.
Abra joins a growing list of crypto-native card issuers with crypto rewards, including the likes of BlockFi, Gemini, Nexo and others. Even companies that aren’t crypto-first, such as Venmo and SoFi, are offering crypto reward cards.
Related Reading | Head To Head: Bitcoin, Ethereum Profitability For Investors
Featured image from Pixabay, Charts from TradingView.com
The writer of this content is not associated or affiliated with any of the parties mentioned in this article. This is not financial advice.
Visa Is Building A Payment Channel Network On Ethereum
Visa has been active in engaging with crypto, and this week is no exception. Reports have emerged that the payment facilitator and financial services firm has deployed it’s first smart contract on Ethereum Testnet.
The move isn’t the first to signal Visa’s increased acceptance to adopt crypto in their operations.
Visa’s Universal Payment Channel
The company is showing clear investment in becoming a leader of payment processing through central banks via crypto. Visa’s first smart contract deployment was a payment channel accepting both Ether and USDC. This is a conceptual protocol in development by the payment processor that will enable interoperability between central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), called a “Universal Payment Channel,” or UPC.
The timing is appropriate given the global discussion around CBDCs. This week alone, Nigeria is looking to be the first country in Africa to launch a CBDC, the Bank of England has released it’s CBDC forum members, and New Zealand’s Central Bank has sought public feedback on CBDCs. Of course, the biggest story in the speculation is China’s recent bitcoin ban paired with rumors of the country’s exploration of a ‘digital yuan.’ Through it all, it’s safe to say that crypto and centralized currencies are at the forefront of most countries treasury departments lately.
Visa’s UPC is being built to support different CBDCs across a variety of blockchains. The company’s head of crypto, Cuy Sheffield, described the initiative as a “longer-term future thinking concept around a way that Visa could potentially help become a bridge between one digital currency on one blockchain and another digital currency on another blockchain.”
Ethereum testnet is host to Visa’s first take at a Universal Payment Channel protocol. | Source: ETH-USD on TradingView.com
Related Reading | Crypto Analyst Says Ethereum Market Is A “Ticking Time Bomb”, Here’s Why
It’s All Part Of The Plan
This week’s development is far from the first move from Visa to dig their heels in crypto. Last month, the company purchased a CryptoPunk and released a positive perspective around NFTs. And at the midpoint of 2021, the company shared that over $1B had been spent on crypto-linked Visa cards on the year. Through it all, Visa has shown a clear favorite in Ethereum as well, and now is utilizing the chain once again with the Universal Payment Channel. The company’s clear engagement with Ethereum could prove fruitful to establishing further institution buy-in for the blockchain.
In the corresponding UPC research and insights report released by Visa, the company shows a clear desire to be a “network of blockchain networks” for global transactions. Digital asset tracker 21Shares has described Ethereum as “the most significant single innovation within the cryptoasset and blockchain industry since the creation of Bitcoin in 2009.” Should Visa’s UPC be built on the backbone of Ethereum? There’s good reason to be optimistic looking forward.
Related Reading | TA: Ethereum Just Reversed But $3,150 Presents A Major Challenge
Featured image from Pexels, Charts from TradingView.com
Mastercard Furthers Investment Into Crypto Card Integration
Mastercard is queuing up a full suite of crypto partners, according to an announcement this week, in efforts to streamline its card program for crypto wallets and exchanges. The company initiative seeks to provide crypto companies with a card option that gives crypto-holders the ability to spend their digital assets anywhere that Mastercard is accepted.
Swipin’ New Partnerships
The flurry of partnerships include:
- Circle
- Paxos
- Evolve Bank & Trust
- Metropolitan Commercial Bank
- Uphold
- BitPay
- Apto Payments
- i2c Inc.
- Galileo Financial Technologies
Each partner looks to play a unique role in Mastercards revitalization to the firm’s already existing Crypto Card Program. Evolve Bank & Trust and Metropolitan Commercial Bank are set to likely be the card issuers while Uphold and BitPay provide supporting crypto wallet technology infrastructure. Meanwhile, i2c Inc., Apto Payments, and Galileo Financial Technologies will support processing and program management for Mastercard.
Paxos and Circle, arguably two of the most recognizable names in the list, will support Mastercard with the conversion of crypto-to-fiat by way of stablecoins; the process will allow Mastercard to have stronger internal stability and ideally allow more banks and crypto partners to get involved down the line. For Circle, Mastercard is another strong partnership in the mix after the firm locked in Visa as a partner back in December 2020. Circle, of course, is a major payments infrastructure firm most known for being the principal operator for the USD Coin (USDC).
Mastercard is one of the largest financial services firms across the globe, and is now doubling down on crypto-integrated efforts. | Source: NYSE: MA on TradingView.com
Related Reading | As Bitcoin Drops Below $30k, Stablecoins Surpass $100 Billion In Total Supply
What It Means
The announcement comes less than a month after primary Mastercard competitor Visa shared that their customers had spent over $1B on crypto-linked cards just mid-way through the calendar year. Consumer demand is undoubtedly making waves when it comes to mainstream corporate adoption in the crypto-sphere.
“Today not all crypto companies have the foundational infrastructure to convert cryptocurrency to traditional fiat currency, and we’re making it easier” said the firm’s EVP of digital asset and blockchain products & partnerships Raj Dhamodharan in the release. “Mastercard expects to deliver on our promise of consumer choice to provide options to people around the world on how and when to pay.”
Elsewhere in the release, established partners showed excitement around a move that clearly signals increased crypto adoption; BitPay co-founder and CEO Stephen Pair noted that the partnership shows promise to “accelerate consumers’ use of crypto as a means of commerce.”
Could a new race in stablecoin-to-fiat adoption for major institutions be well underway?
Related Reading | This Is Why Grayscale Is Doubling Down On Its DeFi Bet With New Fund
Featured image from Pixabay, Charts from TradingView.com
Visa Customers Have Spent Over $1B On Crypto-Linked Cards This Year
Crypto-linked card spending is on the rise. Visa shared this week that consumer spending with Visa-based crypto credit cards has exceeded $1B this year, through just the first six months of the year.
Increasing Adoption Through Accessibility
Visa also shared this week that it plans on partnering with 50 different cryptocurrency platforms to allow ease of access for consumers converting and spending digital currencies at millions of merchants across the globe. These crypto companies include the likes of Coinbase, Block, Crypto.com, and more.
The transaction business moves quickly; it was just earlier this year that the company said it would allow consumers to use stablecoin USDC to settle transactions.
Visa is also pairing up with FTX for the company’s FinTech “FastTrack program”. As part of the program, they will help facilitate FTX paying 50% of its employees in USDC. The partnership and program is nothing new for the credit card firm, as partnerships with firms like Circle have come into the fold in the past year.
Related Reading | Why VISA Thinks Bitcoin Has Potential In Cross-Border Transactions
More From Visa’s Report
Visa has also built out a “Digital Currency Roadmap” that was initially published last year. This week’s report highlights on progress from that roadmap, calling out three major sticking points: “an expanding and evolving ecosystem, rewards reimagined, and stablecoins come to the fore”.
The company looks to continue to leverage relationships with crypto-first firms to expand growth in the aforementioned ecosytem. They cite an infrastructure that they believe will help “establish Visa as the network of choice for crypto native companies.” Interest accounts, lending, and direct deposits are major focal points for Visa and it’s partners.
With regards to rewards, partnerships continue to help build new avenues for Visa to grow. Users with partner programs can spend fiat to earn crypto rewards in the same fashion that we see airline and hotel points associated with consumer spending. Partner programs are already in place with firms like BlockFi and Circle, and have contributed substantially to this calendar year’s $1B in crypto card spending. These programs allow crypto-advocates to earn tokens from their typical spending, while also potentially exposing those less familiar with the crypto landscape with rewards that educate and inform them on the broader crypto landscape.
Finally, the company shows clear excitement around what they see as stablecoins “starting to live up to the promise of “digital fiat”: the developer-friendly characteristics of cryptocurrency combined with the reliability of fiat-backed reserves.”
While many argue that adoption from major firms is healthy for broader crypto, some long-time advocates believe that company’s that have long been ingrained with traditional banking compromises crypto’s decentralized nature.
Visa has seen strong stock growth this year, and continues to show long-lasting investments in crypto. | Source: NYSE: $V on TradingView.com
Related Reading | Swiss Bank Sygnum Launches Ethereum 2.0 Staking
Featured image from Pixabay, Charts from TradingView.com
