Visa Partners Coinbase so customers could move funds easily

Payments processing giant Visa have entered a business collaboration with Coinbase to make it easy for users to move funds across the two platforms. Its an interesting partnership that promises a big bridge between the American crypto exchange platform and VISA. Think of it as the missing link between blockchain technology and traditional finance.

With the enduring dominance of fiat money in the world of finance, such partnerships are very much welcome. This creates a channel to quickly swap crypto for fiat or fiat for crypto without the usual hassles that exist today. Coinbase customers would really love this recent development.

Possibilities built around Visa Direct

The Visa platform that will play a key role in this merger is the Visa Direct Network. This network currently powers all Visa cards, making it possible for users to move funds fast across all cards and receive instant credits. The robust Visa Direct network will also do the same work in making sure that no time is lost when customers try to fund their coinbase crypto wallets from funds linked to a card. The same goes for transactions from card to crypto.

Annooucing the partnership between the two Finance giants, Visa sounded so optimitic about the new opportunities that this partnership would create both for crypto users and newbies. Here is an extract from the official announcement about the partnership on the VISA website:

"We are thrilled to be partnering with Coinbase to help service their customers’ money movement needs, Providing real-time account funding using Visa Direct and an eligible Visa debit card means that those Coinbase users with an eligible Visa debit card know that they can take advantage of trading opportunities day and night.” source

Users need to understand that this service is only available through some of the selected cards. They will have to check if their card are eligible for this service. Once they confirm eligibility, then it would be possible for them to use the brand new service.

There are many new features that this partnership brought for the participating cards and users. The first one if that users can now buy crypto directly on Coinbase using their eligible Visa card. So purchasing crypto on Coinbase is now as simple as making a direct transaction from fiat money linked to a card. For those that will like to use this particular service, it would be wise to also confirm the network fees associated with it. But then, the ease and convenience that it created for crypto customers is really apprecciated.

One interesting feature of the service is that there is no down time between sending funds from a card to buy crypto and receiving the crypto in your coinbase wallet. Its a direct and instant transaction, meaning that the crypto is credited into the coinbase wallet as soon as the transaction is initiated from the card.

Another huge feature of this partnership is that it allows customers to easily and instantly convert crypto to fiat. This is really a huge market that is currently dominated by the P2P feature of most exchanges. So instead of waiting to do the transaction through p2p, users can now easily sell their crypto using this service and instantly get a deposit in a bank of choice. Again, this will almost always require a network fee that the user trying the transaction would have to confirm first.

A link for mass adoption

One of the things that have made it difficult for crypto to reach mainstream popularity is that it is always not easy to be accepted by the masses. Cash and card payments remain the most popular way to settle bills. Hence, many users still find it easy to pay in cash or simply do a card payment. But services like this one makes a key and real difference. If crypto users could find many options to convert crypto to cash or the other way round without much stress, then adoption will go a step further.

It is of course important to note that this service is offered by a custodian. Thus users would have to understand that both Visa and Coinbase remain in charge of whatever funds are stored in the wallets or cards they maintain for customers. So everyone would need to be aware of this. But apart from lacking the full ownership powers that non-custodial services offer, this would remain a great addition to the growing number of platforms that let users move their assets between traditional finance and blockchain technology.

Note: Thumbnail is mine

Posted Using InLeo Alpha