Study Visa, Millennials Are Interested In Using Crypto For Transactions

The use of credit cards in crypto transactions is getting higher and higher (photo: Clay Banks/unspalsh)

JAKARTA - Financing card company Visa on Wednesday 7 July stated that there were more than 1 billion US dollars (14 trillion rupiah) in cryptocurrency transactions spent by consumers globally. The transactions were used to purchase goods and services via their crypto credit cards in the first six months of this year.

By comparison, Visa estimates crypto spending is only a fraction of the number of transactions in the same period last year and 2019. But the payments giant did not release exact figures.

“We are doing a lot to create an ecosystem that makes cryptocurrencies more useful and more like any other currency,” Visa CFO Vasant Prabhu told CNBC.

“Societies are exploring ways in which they can use cryptocurrencies for things they could use like normal currencies. There are a lot of problems in terms of volatility, etc. But it is up to the cryptocurrency owner to manage and track it,” said Prabhu.

According to a recent study by Mastercard, a competitor to Visa, 93% of North American consumers plan to use cryptocurrencies or other new payment technologies, such as biometrics, contactless payments or QR code systems, in the next year.

The study also shows that 75% of millennials would use cryptocurrencies if they understood it better.

“We are seeing a lot of volume in our (network) of people buying cryptocurrencies on various exchanges and as far as we can see, the trend is continuing,” said Prabhu.

This summer, Mastercard will launch a card with crypto exchange Gemini, co-founded by billionaire Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. The card allows consumers to earn cryptocurrency as a reward. However, cardholders will not be allowed to access their digital wallets on the internet.

Visa also announced on Wednesday that the cryptocurrency platform FTX, founded by billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried, will be added to its Fast Track Fintech Program, which is partly focused on making cryptocurrencies more practical to pay for consumer and business expenses. .

Circle, BlockFi and Coinbase, which went public in April on Nasdaq, are now Visa partners, enabling their credit cardholders to shop from their crypto wallets at more than 70 million merchants worldwide.

Visa estimates that crypto credit cards and other new payments including biometrics and QR codes have the potential to “disrupt” the global use of cash and checks, which amount to US$18 trillion (261 quadrillion rupiah) annually.

Bitcoin's market cap alone has now reached US$1 trillion (14,541 quadrillion rupiah) for the first time in February and hit an all-time high of US$65,000 (945 million rupiah) per unit in April 2021 due to enthusiasm of retail investors during the coronavirus pandemic. as a store of value and hedge against inflation. However, bitcoin has fallen about 45% since then. Last month, it fell to below $29,000.

Prahbu said Visa has no near-term plans to add cryptocurrencies to its balance sheet as Tesla, MicroStrategy and other companies have recently done.

“We don't keep cryptocurrencies on our balance sheets today. We hold the currency on our balance sheet that we need to run our business. We hold the currency we accept or we pay people. It tends to dollars, euros, pounds. So we have no plans to hold cryptocurrencies because that's usually not how we get paid or how we pay people," he said.