Crypto-focused enterprise payment platform Tribal Credit has partnered with Visa to expand credit and financing options for small- and medium-sized enterprises across Latin America, highlighting the growing synergies between traditional payment providers and the blockchain industry. The partnership with Visa allows Tribal to issue business credit cards in local denominations and currencies across Latin America, including Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Panama, Uruguay and the Dominican Republic. A Tribal spokesperson informed Cointelegraph that the company’s initial focus is on providing this credit facility to the countries of Colombia, Peru and Chile. While the Visa partnership is centered around providing …

For international travelers still able to cross borders amid an ongoing pandemic, using cryptocurrency to prove they have the means to sustain themselves abroad is a relatively new concept. Many countries around the world are closed to visitors in an effort to protect their residents from COVID-19, but some have continued to allow students, retirees, and others seeking medium- to long-term stays through immigration. Under normal circumstances, entrants are sometimes required to present evidence of funds, both to show they have the necessary savings to provide for themselves and are less likely to work illegally. The definition of this “Evidence …

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway dumped a portion of its Visa and Mastercard holdings and increased exposure in Nubank, the largest fintech bank in Brazil that's also popular among the country's Bitcoin investors. In a securities filing late Monday, the industrials conglomerate disclosed that it had purchased $1 billion worth of Nubank Class A stock in Q4/2021. On the other hand, it sold $1.8 billion and $1.3 billion worth of Visa and Mastercard stock, respectively, signaling a shift away from credit companies to gain exposure in their fintech rivals. Buffett, the so-called "Oracle of Omaha," is popular for his cautious approach …

On the day of the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, there were reportedly more transactions made in China’s central bank digital currency than those through Visa. In a Wednesday report from the Wall Street Journal, a person familiar with the matter said transactions in digital yuan significantly outnumbered those of Visa on Feb. 4 at the Beijing National Stadium, also known as the Bird’s Nest — the location of the opening ceremony of the 34th Olympic Winter Games. However, many of the retailers allowing purchases with China’s central bank digital currency, the digital yuan — or e-CNY …

Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, announced Thursday that it will acquire the remaining outstanding shares of Swipe, a prominent crypto Visa card provider. Users of Binance will be able to spend their coins at over 70 million locations worldwide as a result of the acquisition. On July 6, 2020, Binance initially announced the purchase of a majority stake in Swipe, stating that the new collaboration would help to further advance cryptocurrency adoption by bridging fiat and digital assets. Binance's acquisition of Swipe will allow it to compete with other retail crypto providers like PayPal and Mastercard that provide similar …

Amid the ongoing uncertainty about the future of cryptocurrencies in Russia, one local industry executive has disclosed a potential method for the Bank of Russia to block crypto transactions. Andrey Mikhaylishin, CEO of the local crypto payment startup Joys, said that the Russian central bank is now considering several potential options to make its crypto ban possible, Forbes Russia reported Friday. One of the possible restriction methods includes blocking debit card payments to crypto exchanges or wallets using merchant category codes (MCC), Mikhaylishin said. The report notes that the executive became aware of this blocking method from Bank of Russia …

Payments giants Visa is launching new consulting and advisory services in a move to help its clients navigate the world of cryptocurrencies. The firm said on Dec. 8 that its crypto advisory practice, housed within its consulting and analytics division, will offer advice to financial institutions, retailers and other firms on everything from rolling out crypto features and exploring nonfungible tokens, to developing wallets for central bank digital currencies. According to Visa, part of banks' interest in cryptocurrencies is in remaining competitive. Citing a recent in-house study, Visa said that “40% of crypto owners surveyed report they would be likely …

The Bitcoin network already processes more volume by dollar value than Paypal and the largest decentralized cryptocurrency network in the world by market cap could outstrip Mastercard by as early as 2026. A Nov. 25 report from market intelligence platform Blockdata titled When might the Bitcoin network process volumes like Mastercard and Visa? points out that the Bitcoin network processed about $489 billion per quarter in 2021, which is greater than Paypal’s $302 billion. After just 12 years in existence, Bitcoin processes about 27% of Mastercard’s $1.8 trillion per quarter, and 15% of Visa’s $3.2 trillion. Three factors could see …

Visa’s head of crypto Cuy Sheffield said that investing in cryptocurrency has become a lot cooler thanks to an influx of creative types drawn in by the booming NFT sector. Sheffield was speaking on day one of the Singapore Fintech Festival on Nov. 8. He said that a “whole new class” of mainstream users are flocking to crypto and that NFTs ar attracting people with a broad range of interests such as music, art and culture who are “setting up crypto wallets in waves.” “Crypto is becoming cultural, it’s becoming cool,” Sheffield said, and added that: “It used to be …

The number of Litecoin (LTC) transactions has rebounded to over 140,000 in recent days after falling close to the 100,000 mark in early October. Three days prior, the Litecoin Foundation tweeted about the launch of its LTC Visa Debit card, powered by fintech firm Unbanked. According to the card's homepage, potential customers would first register for a Litecoin Card account, deposit LTC into a specific wallet address, pass a know-your-customer check, and receive a virtual Litecoin Card. The service claims that the sign-up process takes less than five minutes. The Litecoin card is meant to enable users to spend their …

Global payments giant Visa has introduced a project that aims to be a “universal adapter” of blockchains that can connect multiple cryptocurrencies, stablecoins as well as central bank digital currencies (CBDC). According to an official announcement on Thursday, Visa’s research team is working on a “Universal Payment Channel” (UPC) initiative, a blockchain interoperability hub connecting multiple blockchain networks and enabling transfers of digital assets from different protocols and wallets. “Imagine splitting the check with your friends, when everyone at the table is using a different type of money — some using a central bank digital currency [...] like Sweden’s eKrona, …

In a recent interview with local Brazilian news outlet Seu Dinheiro, Eduardo Abreu, vice president of new business at payments giant Visa, revealed the company’s intentions to integrate crypto assets onto its platform for both payments and as a store of value, including the leading cryptocurrency, Bitcoin (BTC). Back in March 2021, Visa’s CEO of Brazil, Fernando Teles, introduced the concept of adopting tokenized payments, as well as an application programming interface, or API, designed to bridge the gap between traditional financial institutions and crypto services. In the interview, Abreu shared his belief that greater adoption will require the integration …