Visa and PayPal recently announced that they would allow the use of Cryptocurrency on their platforms.
According to a Reuters report, Visa said yesterday that it would allow customers to specifically use the cryptocurrency USD Coin in transactions made across its payment network. Visa told the news wire that it launched a pilot program with Crypto.com — a crypto platform — and will seek out other partners later this year.
Visa’s latest move is expected to make transactions easier, as customers with the Crypto.com Visa card had to convert the digital currency into hard money before any transaction could take place. The new system, which relies on the ethereum blockchain, would allow customers to simply pay with digital currency — without the need for conversion.
In related news, The Verge reports that PayPal has announced that U.S. customers can also now pay with Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin or Bitcoin Cash. Any payment made in cryptocurrency will immediately be converted to U.S. dollars in order to complete a transaction. The publication further points out that the crypto-payment feature is set to automatically appear in the PayPal wallet if a user has a “sufficient cryptocurrency balance to cover an eligible purchase.”
Both Visa and PayPal are joining a growing number of companies that are making cryptocurrencies an accepted form of payment. Earlier this month, Tesla announced that it would accept Bitcoin as payment. In 2018, PayPal’s competitor Square launched a feature for Bitcoin on its Cash App, Entrepreneur reports.
In Nigeria, Confusion arose last month when the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said it was reminding regulated banking institutions that “dealing in cryptocurrencies or facilitating payments for cryptocurrency exchanges is prohibited.” Institutions were told to “identify persons and/or entities” transacting with cryptocurrency or operating crypto exchanges.
According to a Coin Desk report, CBN has since clarified the statement it issued last month that seemed to order financial institutions to shut down all accounts associated with cryptocurrency trading.
Bank officials have said the directive is not to be mistaken for an outright ban. Instead, the bank said it has reiterated an already imposed 2017 ban on institutions facilitating cryptocurrency transactions.
Speaking on behalf of the bank’s chief, Godwin Emefiele, Deputy Governor Adamu Lamtek said the bank had never banned cryptocurrency activity in the country.
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