Visa partners to launch USDC payments

A major card payment service Visa announced its partnership with CENTER to offer USDC linked payments. The company wants to link its payment network of 60 million merchants worldwide to the USDT stablecoin.

The stablecoin was developed by Visa’s partnering company Center, a consortium launched by Coinbase and Circle. The move, according to analysts, could significantly reduce the entry barrier for the use of stablecoin.

The USDT can be easily stored in unhosted wallets and is issued on the public Ethereum blockchain.

Users can send and receive USDC payments after launch

The report reveals that Visa will soon issue credit cards that allow users to use their credit cards to send and receive USDC payments directly. However, the firm noted that it will be possible only Circle completes Visa’s Fast Track program next year.

Visa’s head of crypto Cuy Sheffield has commented on the development on Twitter. He said when the card is incorporated, it will be the first to enable transactions through USDC balance.

 “This will be the first, corporate card that will allow businesses to be able to spend a balance of USDC,” he stated.

The partnership allows card issuers to integrate the USDC software

Although Visa will not be a custodian of any USDC, the agreement means Circle will partner with Visa to enable credit card issuers to incorporate the USDC software into their platforms.

Circle spokesperson Josh Hawkins also commented on the development via email, saying both firms are looking at a possible launch by next year.

The firms will be developing a corporate card that would enable the cardholders to spend USDT at merchants and vendors that have the Visa logo. According to the announcement, all vendors who accept Visa cards will also accept the USDC transactions once the project is launched next year.

One of the rules of the card payment company in the United States is that cards should be issued by banks, which means Circle will have to partner with banks to launch the product. However, the rules in other countries allow non-banks to issue Visa cards. Hawkings did not disclose any further details about the arrangement.

Already, over 20 wallet providers have signed up for the Fast Track plan of the card provider, which has set the stage for the car provider’s USDC project.