Visa wants to advance blockchain and digital currency approach

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Financial services giant Visa has signaled its support of blockchain and digital currency. In a blog post, titled “Advancing our approach to digital currency,” Visa explores the different ways it can help legacy institutions integrate blockchain and digital currency.

“We believe that digital currencies have the potential to extend the value of digital payments to a greater number of people and places,” according to the blog. “As such, we want to help shape and support the role they play in the future of money. We look forward to sharing more with you on this work in the months that follow.”

Visa is primarily looking to “connect Visa’s network of financial institutions, merchants, and consumers to new blockchain and digital currency networks.” Visa plans to do this by helping financial institutions, merchants, and consumers, implement the infrastructure they need to be compatible with digital currencies and blockchains that are in demand.

The post also outlines three elements of Visa’s digital currency strategy:

On security, Visa will “focus on data protection, consumer privacy and fairness, and full compliance with all applicable laws.”

It also promises to remain “currency- and network-agnostic” by supporting digital currencies and blockchain networks that are in demand, and make sure that everything is aligned “with Visa’s core capabilities.”

The company said, Visa has “deep expertise in securing transaction data, working with diverse stakeholders, and maintaining an always-on network with continuous availability. Visa will pursue projects that allow us to apply this expertise to new networks and technologies that can benefit our existing clients and partners.”

The blog also says that the Visa research team is currently researching ways to improve blockchain scalability and ways to facilitate off-chain transactions (Layer 2 solutions).

The intersection of modern and traditional finance

This news from Visa comes shortly after The United States Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced that national savings banks and federal savings associations are now allowed to custody digital currency for their clients. That being said, this is the second major announcement from a legacy finance company that is in support of the blockchain and digital currency ecosystem.