Visa announces the first bank piloting its digital currency API

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Visa is gearing up to launch its suite of digital currency APIs that will allow consumers to buy, sell, and hold digital currency. Today, Visa announced that First Boulevard bank, a digital bank with a focus on financially empowering Black America, will be the first bank piloting the Visa digital currency APIs.

“The First Boulevard mission is to help Black America build wealth,” said Donald Hawkins, president and CEO of First Boulevard. “We are thrilled to partner with the leader in digital payments, Visa, and leverage their crypto APIs to provide another channel for the Black community to access crypto as a new asset class that can help build Black wealth.”

Visa’s digital currency service offerings are made possible thanks to their business partner Anchorage. Recently, Anchorage became the first federally chartered digital currency bank in the USA when they received a national bank charter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). 

“Visa’s crypto APIs pilot program is a significant step forward both for the proliferation of crypto as an asset class, and for accessibility and inclusion in payments and financial services. We are thrilled to be working alongside Visa and First Boulevard to build the infrastructure for a more secure and equitable financial future,” said Diogo Monica, president and co-founder, Anchorage.

Digital currency is on the main stage 

Visa is making an effort to further integrate digital currencies into the world of legacy banking. Recently, the blockchain and digital currency space has received an influx of new users that come from both the retail investor and corporate world. Visa is trying to take advantage of that since they are already a giant in the payment processing industry and can leverage their economy of scale. In the coming months, there is a good chance that Visa will transition even more financial institutions off of its digital currency API waitlist and get them piloting their digital currency APIs as well.