Visa on Wednesday said it is linking its payments network of 60 million merchants to the USDC stablecoin developed by Centre, the consortium founded by Circle and Coinbase. The news was first reported by Forbes.
- While Visa itself won’t custody any USDC, Circle will be working with Visa to help certain Visa credit card issuers integrate the USDC software into their platforms and send and receive USDC payments.
- Eventually, Visa will support the issuance of a credit card that lets businesses send and receive USDC payments directly from any business using the card.
- Circle spokesperson Josh Hawkins confirmed the move via email, saying the companies were targeting a 2021 launch.
- The companies will develop a corporate card that would let users spend USDC at vendors who accept Visa cards.
- Visa head of crypto Cuy Sheffield confirmed the news on Twitter, writing: “Circle will issue the first Visa corporate card connected to USDC to enable their business clients to spend USDC from their corporate treasury at 60M merchants.”
- Visa’s rules require that cards in the U.S. be formally issued by a bank, so Circle will need one as a partner to launch this product. Hawkins said the company is not yet disclosing issuing details. In other countries, non-banks may issue Visa cards (Coinbase issues its own card in the U.K.)
Read more: USDC Stablecoin Issuer Centre Hires Wall Street Veteran David Puth as CEO
UPDATE (Dec. 2, 15:15 UTC): Added a comment from Circle and confirmation from Visa.
UPDATE (Dec. 2, 16:50 UTC): Corrected verb in headline and fourth bullet point, since Visa does not “issue” cards.
UPDATE (Dec. 2, 23:35 UTC): Added bullet point about need for an issuing bank in the U.S.