n Visa is readying its Hyperledger Fabric-based digital identity system for cross-border payments for launch in the first quarter of 2019n
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Are Mastercard and VISA Cutting Out Unregulated Crypto Brokers and ICOs
n Mastercard and VISA have allegedly deemed crypto and ICOs to be high risk. Is it true and, if yes, what would that meann
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Visa CEO: Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Not “Much Use” to Company
The CEO of Visa Inc. has stated that he does not think that blockchain technology or cryptocurrency is useful to the international credit card company. In an address at Boston College yesterday, Alfred F. Kelly Jr. also stated that he felt the firm was a great example of a fintech success story.
Blockchain is Too Slow for Visa-Style Customer Payments
During a luncheon with executives at Boston College Executives Club, Kelly spoke about two of the hottest fintech topics of recent years – cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. In response to questions posed by audience members, the CEO stated that he did not feel either innovation is much use to Visa in the short-term.
Kelly stated that blockchain was designed to handle low-volume, high-value transactions. He went on to say that such value transfers were the opposite of what Visa had become known for. According to a report in BizJournals, Kelly said:
“It’s an interesting technology… It isn’t really at its core, for us, a good technology.”
He also claimed that the technology would never be able to handle the number of transaction that Visa could.
Despite his reservations about blockchain technology for consumer customers of Visa, Kelly did admit that there was room for the innovation in the company’s business-to-business department. He went on to talk about a blockchain-inspired platform that the California-based payments giant has been working on called Visa B2B Connect.
That said, like fellow credit card firm Mastercard, the company does have a dedicated research department studying the implications of blockchain technology and other bleeding-edge innovations. The group is based in Palo Alto, California and comprises of 275 specialists.
When addressing cryptocurrency itself, Kelly said Visa was looking at the digital asset space, but does not think Bitcoin and other virtual currencies were much use as a payment vehicle in the immediate future.
Even though Visa executives are clearly not overly enthused by the fintech innovation that is blockchain and cryptocurrency, Kelly did claim his company was still a leader in the technology space:
“I actually tell people I think Visa’s the greatest fintech story in the world.”
He went on to highlight that almost half of all the company’s 17,000 employees work in technology as engineers or cybersecurity specialists.
It hardly seems surprising that an executive that thrives on profits created by serving as a financial middleman would be unexcited by cryptocurrency though. Currencies built using blockchain technology completely remove the necessity of payment processing firms such as Visa.
As the technology continues to mature, it will likely pose a far greater threat to established players in the financial industry with or without the support of those most at risk.
Featured image from Shutterstock.
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Interstellar Arrives Visa, Citi-Backed Chain Acquired By Stellar Startup
An acquisition that finds two of crypto’s leading entrepreneurs teaming to back the world’s sixth-largest blockchain has been confirmed. n
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Crypto.com to Offer Crypto-to-Fiat Visa Debit Cards in Singapore and Hong Kong
Crypto.com, formerly known as Monaco, has applied to issue cryptocurrency Visa debit cards in Hong Kong, the blockchain startup said yesterday.
Crypto.com to Ship Over 100,000 Cryptocurrency Visa Debit Cards to Customers Globally
The Hong Kong-based firm is scheduled to ship more than 100,000 cards to customers worldwide over the next two months, reports the South China Morning Post.
Starting with Singapore, where it holds a stored-value facility license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the rollout of the Visa debit card taps an unexplored market. It will offer fiat and crypto wallets supporting BTC, ETH, LTC, MCO, and BNB on the side of virtual currencies, as well as the USD, SGD, and HKD on the side of fiat.
Kris Marszalek, co-founder and CEO of Crypto.com, explained how the company’s Visa debit card, which is issued in partnership with Germany’s Wirecard Bank, addresses the need for easy, secure, and affordable crypto-to-fiat transactions and withdrawals.
“To holders of cryptocurrencies, having the peace of mind that you can readily convert back into fiat currencies and cash out is very important […] Not all exchanges support crypto-to-fiat transactions, and even if you hold your digital assets at the exchanges’ wallet, the withdrawal process is also complicated. We believe our product addresses a real need and enhances trust in digital assets.”
Startup Applies to Money Lending Licenses to Disrupt Credit Card Industry
Crypto.com is also applying for money lending licenses in Singapore and Hong Kong as the company looks to expand to the cryptocurrency-backed money lending business, which is also an untapped market.
Once the authorizations come in, the innovative money lender will be able to offer loans collateralised with Bitcoin and MCO, Crypto.com’s own token, to its customers – holders of the Visa cards and its cryptocurrency wallet service.
Marszalek said the company’s money lending service aims to disrupt the credit card industry as banks live off an unethical business model where consumers who can hardly afford their interest rates obtain unsecured revolving credit.
Crypto.com intends to stave off any credit risk from borrowers as they can only borrow fiat up to 40-60 percent of the pledged collateral, which is in cryptocurrencies.
That, however, doesn’t protect the company from the cryptocurrency market volatility. Given that the price of Bitcoin dropped from ,000 in mid-December 2017 to the ,000 area in less than two months, Marszalek needs to run a tight ship.
Featured image from Shutterstock.
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Former Visa CEO’s Startup Runs the Fastest Crypto Transactions in the World
Blockchain-based fintech startup Crypterium challenges classic banks by introducing a new feature that allows its users to transfer any amount of cryptocurrency using not the complicated wallet addresses, but simply the recipient phone number. Those transfers happen simultaneously, and the company claims it can process up to a million transactions per second, solving blockchain’s scalability issue.
Does it mean the first truly user-friendly crypto solution has arrived, and we’re witnessing the Netscape moment for the whole industry? Marc O’Brien, who has held the position of CEO of Visa UK for six years, to then become a key advisor to Revolut, Britain’s first digital bank unicorn, bets on the house that it did.
Going Mainstream
Almost all blockchain applications are not user-friendly. Tech-savvy people have created them for other tech-savvy people, and those solutions are still very confusing for both businesses and consumers who are not as computer literate.
Former Visa UK CEO Marc O’Brien has set a goal of bringing the crypto industry mainstream and making it more user-friendly. “We’re on our way to the 21st century’s “Netscape moment”, the day when a California startup’s eye-popping market debut illuminated the World Wide Web for millions of people, otherwise only vaguely familiar with its potential and promise,” – he explains, mentioning that his own startup, Crypterium, “makes buying, selling and spending of cryptocurrency in everyday life as easy as possible, and that’s what will bring the next billions of people to using crypto.”
Problems unsolved
There are two key problems all crypto holders are facing today while trying to transfer coins and tokens to each other. First of all, you can get confused with the wallet address. This is how they look like – 0xc5b133a52145990313915612bd732f059330287f – so getting confused is really easy. And once you do, you never get your money back.
There are also special hacker apps, such as CryptoShuffler, that change the address of the wallet while it is being copied. So in the “Send to the wallet” field, you enter the thief’s wallet number.
The second problem is that any transaction takes a while. If we are talking about Ethereum, it could be minutes, if it is Bitcoin – a transaction may take hours. When the blockchain networks are overloaded, transactions may take days.
The solution is on its way
Crypterium is aiming to solve both problems. There is no need to copy the recipient’s wallet address. You just need to know his or her phone number. Send crypto to your mom, your friend, your ex-girlfriend in France. They will get money even if they don’t have any crypto wallets. Once the transaction is processed, they’ll get an SMS with a link to get their crypto with some very clear instructions on what they can do with it. For example, they can use their newly acquired Bitcoin to top up their mobile phones.
What is even more great, the transaction of any cryptocurrency takes seconds. This has become possible because all transfers are done off-chain. When the user wants to spend the coins externally, the money is withdrawn from the sender’s wallet inside Crypterium. While not spent, all the transactions are written in the system, make the transfer the fastest of all.
“We have analyzed the most popular crypto wallets in the market, and none of them offer anything like it, though it sounds so exciting,” O’Brien says.
Time will tell if crypto transactions will become more popular than the payments with Visa and Mastercard, but this solution is for sure one big step towards global crypto popularization.
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Crypto.com Drops New Cryptocurrency Enabled Visa Card at TechCrunch
Hong Kong based Monaco has rebranded to Crypto.com since it purchased the domain name for several million dollars and has announced its new cryptocurrency enabled MCO Visa card at TechCrunch.
MCO Visa Enables Purchases with Crypto
Kris Marszalek, CEO and co-founder of blockchain-based startup Crypto.com is at the TechCrunch conference in Zug, Switzerland discussed his company’s new MCO Visa card that allows users to spend their cryptocurrency at over 40 million locations while offering the user benefits that he says reviles the world’s best credit cards.
Marszaleck was interviewed by CNN money about the new card which he said he had just used to buy two coffees while holding up the signature obsidian black elite card. He explained that by downloading their app which contains a wallet for both crypto and fiat currency users will be able to use the cards anywhere Visa is accepted.
The CEO spoke of Crypto.com’s mission “to accelerate the global development, adoption, and transition to cryptocurrency,” and added that with the MCO Visa card they are not only bringing utility to holders of cryptocurrency but also providing a gateway for those interested in but as yet hesitant to get into the space because of its technical aspects or volatile nature.
In addition to the standard MCO Visa card, Crypto.com is also introducing an exclusive cryptocurrency concierge service, MCO Private. This will be offered to high-net-worth clients in the crypto space, offering both specialized services and access. A few of these perks include dedicated customer service over the phone, exclusive access to crypto related events and advice and guidance through the platform.
CEO says New Visa Card Accelerates the Adoption of Crypto
The cards come in ice white available to those who purchase 5,000 MCO tokens or the elite, obsidian black for 50,000 MCO. The standard cards will provide benefits as well, such as; cash back rewards, referral bonuses, and airport lounge privileges.
The Crypto.com domain was first registered by University of Pennsylvania professor of computer and information science Matt Blaze in 1993 who held onto the name until he sold out to Monaco recently. Though the purchase amount has been kept confidential experts have estimated it may be worth as much as million.
Speaking about the purchase of the name and the rebranding of the company Masrszeleck said:
“We will strive to deliver impact worthy of the name and build infrastructure that enables growth of the ecosystem, delivering on the promise of a decentralised future.”
For now, the MCO Visa card is finishing testing prior to availability in Asia, Europe, and the US. Its official launch is planned for later this summer.
Featured Image From Shutterstock
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Visa Outage in Europe Highlights Potential of Cryptocurrency Payments
Payment technology has introduced a high degree of convenience for consumers globally. When that technology does not work as advertised, a very problematic scenario ensues. Visa suffered from major outages across Europe for most of the day on Friday. This highlights the need for alternative solutions, including cash and even cryptocurrency.
The Visa Outage in Europe
Consumers and corporations throughout Europe experienced major payment issues on Friday. Anyone trying to conduct transactions through a Visa payment card may have run into problems. Transactions were limited or impossible to complete. Financial institutions even advised consumers to use cash or other payment options. Mastercard was not affected by this issue.
Visa quickly pointed out how online transactions suffered less in this regard. Point-of-sale transactions remained hit-and-miss for most of the day. Using a contactless card for smaller transactions was doable in most cases. All of this shows how prone the financial system is to technical issues.
Events like these often cause unforeseen consequences. Various automated teller machines in the U.K. had their cash reserves depleted in the afternoon. While the issue has been solved, an official explanation has not been provided. The convenience of payment cards only applies when the complex infrastructure powering these payments is working properly. For Visa, that was anything but the case yesterday.
The Need for Cryptocurrency and Cash
Most consumers still keep cash on hand to deal with situations like this. While such outages are very rare, they can happen at any given moment. As such, it seems highly unlikely cash usage will ever be eroded completely. Judging by this latest mishap, that is probably for the best.
Additionally, the Visa issue shows the need for alternative forms of payment as well. Unlike payment cards and cash, cryptocurrencies can save the day during times like these. Despite their volatile nature, numerous payment processors exist to process cryptocurrency transactions regardless of temporary price swings.
Consumers and corporations need to pay attention to these alternatives. Having a steady cash supply on hand is a good measure, but it still requires a suitable payment card to withdraw it from an ATM. Cryptocurrency payments are an option, even though very few retailers accept them today. With issues like this one, that situation may come to change sooner rather than later.
Featured image from Shutterstock.
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Crypto is for “Crooks” and “Dirty Politicians”, According to Visa Exec
One of the top executive’s at global payments processing company Visa has absolutely slammed cryptocurrency and its users. Speaking with the Financial Times, Vasant Prabhu sees Bitcoin and other digital currencies as a tool used by “every crook and dirty politician” around.
Talking Sense, or Talking Scared?
Prabhu told the publication that he’s getting asked more and more about cryptocurrency. This to him signals that the whole space is nothing more than a giant speculative bubble. The Visa executive spoke of his interactions with various retail-investors. He said they were “a real shock” to him:
“The people asking me are the ones who scare the hell out of me… You know, guys like the limo driver to the airport . . . They have no idea what they are doing.”
Evidently, these would-be crypto investors don’t really know what they’re doing. Why anyone would take investment advice from the chief financial officer of a company who has the most to lose from a successful cryptocurrency revolution is unclear.
It kind of feels similar to asking a turkey what they think of Christmas, or a horse breeder in the 1890s if they’d heard about these “motor cars” everyone’s talking about.
Visa current operates at the centre of the global payments network. They profit greatly from the system. Meanwhile, cryptocurrency is a direct threat to the status quo of the planet’s financial services industry. We therefore shouldn’t be surprised when the likes of Prabhu spout anti-cryptocurrency sentiment at every available opportunity.
The Visa executive hadn’t finished lambasting cryptocurrency just yet though. He recounted hearing non-financial people talking about investing in Bitcoin. This to him was a telling sign of things to come:
“This is the ultimate thing that you hear about when you have a bubble, when the guy shining your shoes tells you what stock to buy.”
What Vasant Prabhu, Jamie Dimon, and the rest of their legacy payment industry chums fail to recognise is that historical paradigm shifts frequently begin with a speculative mania. Cryptocurrency seems to be following that trend perfectly too.
Such transformative technologies begin with everyone but the enlightened core claiming they’re dangerous or stupid. Like how people said the internet would only be used for child porn and other nefarious uses back in 1994. Eventually the narrative changes and the masses get excited. This leads to a speculative bubble that inevitably bursts – just like the dot-com bubble around the turn of the century.
Eventually, all the ridiculous and over-hyped projects crash to zero. This leaves the truly revolutionary ideas standing, gaining value through their utility rather than simply wild speculation. Examples like Amazon, eBay, and Facebook highlight this. We don’t need to tell you that these companies are some of the largest financial powerhouses on the planet today.
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BitPay Visa Top-Ups Become a lot Cheaper With Bitcoin Cash
BitPay is the world’s leading Bitcoin payment processor. The company is looking well beyond the world’s leading cryptocurrency as well. Their support for Bitcoin Cash has been quite interesting to keep an eye on. It is now possible to sue BCH with the BitPay Visa debit card as well. More importantly, this is done at no fee.
BitPay Continues to Surprise
It is evident there is more to cryptocurrency than just Bitcoin. Even companies such as BitPay acknowledge things are changing rapidly in this ecosystem. The company recently introduced support for Bitcoin Cash as an extra currency. This news has been received with great enthusiasm by the BCH faithful.
However, this support doesn’t extend to transactions and payment processing. BitPay has also enabled BCH as a funding method for their native Visa debit card. This change went into effect as of this week. It is an intriguing change which catches a lot of people by surprise as of right now. Owners of the card don’t need to do anything special, as this new option shows up automatically.
The introduction of Bitcoin Cash support for the Visa card exists side-by-side with Bitcoin top-ups. Giving customers more choices is always a great idea in this regard. These two options work in very similar ways, although there is one big difference between the two. Bitcoin top-ups or be subject to a 1.9% network fee. Using BCH, on the other hand, is completely free of charge, for the time being.
Fee-free Bitcoin Cash Top-Ups
It is a change few people had ever expected to see. With its lower transaction fees, it is only normal BitPay wants to make these services as cheap as possible. For now, they seem to lean toward BCH in this regard, rather than Bitcoin. It is impossible to tell if this BCH top-up option will remain free. That will mainly hinge on how the BCH network fees evolve in the coming weeks and months.
Whether or not there will be a lot of interest in this feature, remains to be seen. Users can compare both deposit options side-by-side when making a transaction. This should make it easier to determine which options work best at that given time. There are different exchange rates and confirmation times to take into account at all times, though.
In the end, this is positive news for Bitcoin Cash supporters Whether or not Bitcoin users will be happy about this change, remains to be determined, though. This ongoing spat between BTC and BCH has been going on for quite some time now. It is evident both currencies can effectively compete with one another through the BitPay platform from now on. Which one will come out on top, has yet to be determined. Right now, it clearly sees as if BCH is the better option for all intents and purposes.
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