Visa’s crypto cards hit $2.5 billion in payments

What

Visa’s crypto-linked cards have reached $2.5 billion in the first financial quarter of 2022

Why

Visa’s CFO says people are using their crypto-linked cards for a variety of reasons, from paying for retail products to services

What next

Despite offering crypto-linked cards, Visa has no plans to hold crypto on its own balance sheets

The story

Global payments behemoth Visa has announced during its recent earnings call that customers made $2.5 billion in payments with its crypto-linked cars in the first financial quarter of 2022.

This equates to 70% of the company’s crypto volume for all of fiscal 2021.

Visa CFO Vasant Prabhu told CNBC this is a signal that consumers are seeing the utility that crypto has to offer.

“There’s value in being able to access that liquidity, to fund purchases and manage expenses, and to do so instantly and seamlessly,” said Prabhu. “People are using their crypto-linked cards to pay in a variety of ways – retail products and services, restaurants, travel.”

In July, Visa reported crypto-link card usage surpassed the $1 billion mark in the first six months of 2021.

“We’ve seen this payment volume continue to grow despite volatility in the crypto markets,” Prabhu said.

Despite the massive uptick in spending, Visa still has no plans to hold crypto on its balance sheet, but it has made several recent investments in crypto platforms as it continues to embrace digital currencies.

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