Visa CEO Calls Stablecoin And CBDC Has An Important Role In Payment Future

JAKARTA Visa credit card giant, led by Al Kelly, stated that his company will continue to pursue opportunities in blockchain technology to support next-generation payments. He also assessed the potential of stablecoins and CBDCs.

This statement was issued at an annual Visa shareholder meeting by phone call on January 24. CEO Al Kelly also conveyed the company's plans to handle the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) and private stablecoins. Al Kelly will step down from his position as CEO of Visa on February 1.

Kelly told Business Times that "It's still very early, but we continue to believe that stablecoins and Central Bank Digital Currency have the potential to play a meaningful role in the payment space, and we have a number of initiatives underway."

"We have made a large amount of investment in crypto funds and companies because we want to invest in the payment ecosystem," explained CEO Visa, on January 24, 2023.

Visa confirmed that the company's balance sheet was not affected by some "big failure" that rocked the crypto world throughout 2022. Currently, the company is focused on maintaining the integrity of brand payments and reputation systems in terms of trust.

Over the years, Visa has worked on a number of crypto-related initiatives, one of which is a blockchain interoperability project called the Universal Payment Channel (UPC) initiative. However, Visa hasn't provided updates about this project in more than 12 months.

Launching Cointelegraph, Visa announced plans to allow automated bills to be paid from users' Ethereum-based wallets. The company has also launched several "costless" cryptocurrency debit cards recently, including agreements now discontinued with FTX and partnerships with the still applicable Blockchain.com.

Although Visa's annual report only includes data until September 30, further information may be revealed in Visa Q1 2023's earnings call.

Visa president Ryan McAnerney will replace Al Kelly as CEO on February 1, while Kelly will remain executive chairman. McInerney seems to have the same view as Kelly regarding blockchain-powered payment solutions.

In an interview with Fortune in November 2022, McAnerney said Visa still has "14 trillion dollars in cash out there spent by digitized consumers" and they continue to explore where crypto payments can be put to good use.