Global payment giant Visa is stepping up its efforts to encourage the use of cryptocurrencies by opening up yet another way to convert cryptocurrency to fiat money without utilizing a centralized exchange.The companies announced on January 30 that Visa, in collaboration with Web3 infrastructure provider Transak, will launch cryptocurrency withdrawals and payments via the Visa Direct service.With the help of this new integration, users may now withdraw cryptocurrency like Bitcoin straight to a Visa debit card from a wallet like MetaMask.The integration is instantaneously available and allows users to convert cryptocurrency to fiat and make payments at 130 million merchant locations that accept Visa.
“By enabling real-time card withdrawals through Visa Direct, Transak is delivering a faster, simpler and more connected experience for its users — making it easier to convert crypto balances into fiat,” Visa Direct’s North America Head Yanilsa Gonzalez-Ore said.
According to Harshit Gangwar, the main investor relations representative at Transak and head of marketing, the partnership greatly increases the number of ways to exchange cryptocurrency for fiat money and marks a key milestone in linking the crypto and traditional banking worlds.
Through the arrangement, users can immediately convert at least 40 cryptocurrencies to fiat without using centralized exchanges, and they can do so from 145 different countries.Transak’s global coverage page lists the United Arab Emirates, Cyprus, Malta, Singapore, Turkey, Portugal, and other countries as among the supported nations.
“This is a major step towards mainstream acceptance and utilization of cryptocurrencies,” Gangwar said, highlighting a more accessible and convenient nature of the transactions enabled by the integration.
According to Gangwar, the collaboration brings significant benefits to users of decentralized platforms and wallets like the MetaMask, Ledger, Trust Wallet and others. “MetaMask users can now effortlessly off-ramp directly from their wallet to the Visa card, which enhances the usability and practicality of their digital assets,” he noted.
As per Lorenzo Santos, senior product manager at MetaMask, the partnership between Visa and Transak does in fact make a major functionality possible for MetaMask users. He declared. “Transak’s integration with Visa opens new horizons for MetaMask users globally, providing more flexibility in smooth cryptocurrency to fiat conversions.”
Transak’s Gangwar claims that the platform is a part of the integration since it maintains different jurisdictional licenses and makes sure that anti-money laundering and know-your-customer technology is in place.The executive continued, “This allows Transak to authenticate the user and lawfully permit such transactions.”In recent years, Visa, one of the biggest businesses in the payments sector globally, has been aggressively investigating the potential applications of cryptocurrencies.Visa made a significant entry into the cryptocurrency space in 2020 when it teamed up with blockchain startup Circle to enable the USDC stablecoin on specific Visa cards.As part of its ongoing efforts to increase stablecoin acceptance, Visa began to accept USDC payments settled on the Solana blockchain in September 2023