With bitcoin near all-time high, this is where Visa’s CEO sees crypto going

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KEY POINTS

  • Visa estimates that $18 trillion is still spent using cash and checks and health concerns due to Covid-19 will push more transactions to a cashless society.
  • The payments network company also sees 1.7 billion people around the world who are unbanked or underbanked as targets for growth.
  • One way in which Visa expects more people to pay in the future is with cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, which has soared in value this year back near its all-time high as more financial institutions and investors buy in.

Every day, in every corner of the Earth, people have a choice of how to spend, whether it is cash, checks, or using Visa, Mastercard or a local card in their market, and new fintech platforms. The post-Covid world does not look great for cash and checks — just look at the stock price of a payments fintech Square this year versus that of a cash security company like Brink’s.

For Visa CEO Alfred Kelly, there’s opportunity in the rapid changes in the way people pay for things.

“The battleground always is out in the local market, every day,” Kelly said at the recent CNBC Evolve Summit. “We operate in 230 countries and territories and want to win as many transactions as we can.”

The Visa CEO cited an estimated $18 trillion still spent in cash and checks as an opportunity that will “accelerate with coronavirus and concern about germs.”

One of the digital accelerants during Covid-19 is cryptocurrency. Bitcoin, the most prominent example, is approaching a record and Visa sees digital currencies playing a greater role in its business in the years ahead.

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Source: Eric Rosenbaum | CNBC

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