Visa announced that it has partnered with digital native neobank First Boulevard, which will be the first to test the financial giant's new crypto API suite. As part of the agreement between the two companies, First Boulevard customers will be able to buy, hold and trade digital assets such as bitcoin held by the federally chartered digital asset bank Anchorage. The pilot will serve as a first step in supporting API capabilities that will allow other Visa customers to access and integrate encryption functionality into their products later this year.
Digital currency strategy
The development of Visa's crypto APIs is the next phase in the company's digital currency strategy, which aims to expand its role as a network of networks. During this initial test-and-learn phase, Visa will explore ways in which financial institutions without their own digital currency infrastructure can use its platform to take advantage of the growing world of crypto asset blocks and chain networks. Visa product manager Jake Forestell provided more information on the company's entry into the cryptocurrency market and the progress it has made in the space in a press release, saying: “We decided to make Visa the bridge between digital currencies and our global network of 70 million merchants and today we are the leading crypto wallet network with 35 crypto platforms choosing to issue with Visa. With this pilot program, we want to extend the value of Visa to our neobank and financial institution customers by providing an easy bridge to crypto assets and blockchain networks. Financial institutions interested in partnering with Visa to enable their customers to buy and trade digital assets can join the company's waitlist here to try out these new capabilities once they become available.