The financial services giant wants to make data about stablecoin usage clear and accessible, which requires some processing.
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Cuy Sheffield: The Reason Visa Is ‘Everywhere’ in Crypto
Perhaps more than at any other TradFi firm, Visa’s crypto unit under Sheffield has been running experiment after experiment. That’s why he’s one of CoinDesk’s Most Influential of 2023.
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VISA’s Stablecoin Payments On Solana Propel SOL To 5% Gain, Bulls Eye Price Breakout
Payment giant VISA has significantly moved in the digital currency space by expanding its stablecoin settlement services to the Solana (SOL) blockchain.
According to recent announcements, the company aims to enhance the capabilities of traditional payment systems through this pilot program, which is currently in the testing phase.
This initiative is expected to improve cross-border settlement speeds and offer a modern option for clients to send and receive funds through Visa’s treasury.
In collaboration with merchant acquirers Worldpay and Nuvei, this expansion reinforces Visa’s commitment to staying at the forefront of digital currency and blockchain innovation, according to VISA’s head of Crypto, Cuy Sheffield.
VISA Expands Stablecoin Settlement Services To Solana
Solana, a blockchain platform known for its scalability, has been chosen by VISA to extend its stablecoin settlement capabilities. With Solana’s existing support for Ethereum (ETH), VISA is leveraging the strengths of both platforms to facilitate efficient and secure transactions.
Per the announcements, VISA aims to enhance cross-border settlement efficiency by leveraging stablecoins such as USDC (USD Coin) and utilizing the global blockchain networks of Solana and Ethereum.
This integration allows users to benefit from the advantages of Solana’s blockchain, such as fast transaction speeds and low fees.
Furthermore, integrating VISA’s stablecoin settlement services with Solana provides increased utility and credibility to the platform and its native cryptocurrency, contributing to the SOL value surge.
Overall, VISA’s decision to expand its stablecoin settlement services to the Solana blockchain signifies the company’s recognition of the potential offered by blockchain technology and digital currencies.
VISA’s selection of Solana as a partner underscores its reputation as a scalable and efficient blockchain platform. The positive market response, as evidenced by the surge in SOL’s price, highlights the growing confidence in the potential of both Solana and stablecoin solutions.
As VISA continues to explore and embrace digital currency innovations, it reinforces the ongoing transformation of the global financial landscape.
Bullish Momentum For SOL
The recent announcement of VISA’s expansion into the Solana blockchain has notably impacted the price of SOL, Solana’s native cryptocurrency.
Since the news broke, SOL has surged by 5.2% in the past 24 hours, currently trading at $20.46. This surge reflects the market’s positive response to VISA embracing Solana’s capabilities.
In the immediate term, bullish investors will face a key resistance level of $20.82, which was lost on August 30 after a consolidation period of 15 days following a sharp decline influenced by the overall market trend.
Should bulls successfully overcome this resistance level, the next hurdle to watch out for would be the 50-day Moving Average (MA) at the $21.89 level. This moving average could act as a further resistance level for the token.
On the downside, if any of these possibilities don’t play out, SOL bulls will need to defend the $19.15 level and strive to consolidate above this crucial point.
Conversely, Solana’s circulating market capitalization currently stands at $8.25 billion. However, over the past 30 days, it has declined 12.47%.
Featured image from iStock, chart from TradingView.com
Visa Taps Solana and USDC Stablecoin to Boost Cross-Border Payments
The company said it is one of the first major payment institutions to use directly the Solana network for settlements.
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Visa Deploys Paymaster Smart Contract On Ethereum Testnet
Cuy Sheffield, Head of Crypto at Visa, a global payments technology company operating in over 200 countries, has confirmed that they have deployed its first paymaster smart contract on the Goerli testnet of Ethereum, a smart contracting platform.
Visa Is Experimenting
In a tweet on May 17, 2023, Sheffield said that Visa would continue researching and experimenting with account abstraction and EIP-4337 in the days ahead.
His comments were confirmed by a team member who said that the payments company is actively exploring the potential of smart contracts and the future of programmable money and payments.
As part of its experiment on the Goerli testnet, Visa will look at how it can further take advantage of EIP-4337 in deploying a functional paymaster smart contract to evaluate its utility.
The paymaster is a smart contract account that Visa says sponsors transaction fees for contract accounts. These trials are on Goerli, a public testnet on Ethereum for users to test decentralized applications (DApps) without paying gas fees.
Specifically, the payments technology company will be channeling efforts to look at how best it can deploy the paymaster smart contract to serve its client base. Interestingly, Visa will investigate whether its clients can pay as fees using alternative tokens like USDT and not ETH.
According to Visa, this will help solve real-world problems and enhance the user experience when posting on-chain transactions.
EIP-4337 Could Open Up Ethereum To More Possibilities
EIP-4337 is an improvement proposal recently approved by Ethereum developers and set for mainnet integration. The proposal defines an account abstraction standard for the Ethereum blockchain.
Account abstraction is the idea of separating the logic behind deployed decentralized applications from account management.
Implementing this proposal introduces a “smart account” entirely governed by code. This code manages the social recovery of private keys, for example, or appending multi-wallet signatures.
In this way, more possibilities can be opened up, driving usability. Subsequently, this may accelerate adoption by releasing features such as passwordless login or one-click transactions.
Analysts say the ideas proposed by EIP-4337 will introduce flexibility for entities or individuals designing Ethereum and token wallets. Developers will also be allowed to be more creative while launching wallets that don’t compromise on security or ease of use.
This is not the company’s first foray into the blockchain as Visa has been actively developing Ethereum-based products and even investing in blockchain companies.
In March 2023, the payments company launched a crypto advisory service for its clients. The service is meant to advise companies on the benefits and risks of cryptocurrencies, helping them make informed decisions.
In February 2023, Visa invested in Anchorage Digital, a crypto custodian.
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