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San Francisco-based Fold, an app that offers users bitcoin rewards, has joined Visa's Fintech Fast Track Program and plans to launch a co-branded Visa debit card that gives out as much as 10% of cash purchases with bitcoin instead of traditional reward points like airline miles or cash.

"The startup behind the bitcoin-friendly shopping app Fold joined the Visa Fast Track Program to issue a credit card that offers bitcoin rewards instead of traditional reward points.

Under the deal, M-Pesa's 24 million users and 173,000 local merchants will be linked to Visa's 61 million merchants and its more than 3 billion cards. The mobile phone-based M-Pesa will serve as a virtual card, allowing users to make payments abroad when they travel and also letting them transfer cash from their Visa-linked debit cards to their M-Pesa wallet even when they are abroad.

EO Al Kelly said tVisa intends to bring bitcoin onto its network, making it easy for customers to spend and buy with their cryptocurrency. The firm is working with bitcoin wallets to allow bitcoin to be translated into a fiat currency that can be immediately used at any of the 70 million places around the world where Visa is accepted.

To let businesses quickly deploy digital payment services, a consortium of major companies is rolling out a new financial innovation platform called b.yond. Global Processing Services, Pannovate, Cornercard, MeaWallet, Modulr, AllPay and W2 Global are founding partners of the consortium in collaboration with Visa.

Simplex, an EU-licensed financial institution that provides the fiat infrastructure for the cryptocurrency industry was approved for principal membership to the Visa network. Founded in 2014, Simplex processes credit card payments with a 100% zero chargeback guarantee. Simplex joins Coinbase in the ranks of crypto-native companies obtaining principal membership status. The exchange had previously achieved the same milestone in February 2020.

The U.S. Justice Department has sued to block Visa's $5.3 billion acquisition of bank data sharing startup Plaid, citing competition concerns. It claims that "Visa is a monopolist in online debit transactions, extracting billions of dollars in fees annually from merchants and consumers. Plaid, a financial technology firm with access to important financial data from over 11,000 U.S. banks, is a threat to this monopoly: it has been developing an innovative new solution that would be a substitute for Visa's online debit services. By acquiring Plaid, Visa would eliminate a nascent competitive threat that would likely result in substantial savings and more innovative online debit services for merchants and consumers.

U.K.-based SafeCharge launched a new solution offering small businesses alternative ways to accept digital payments in response to the COVID-19 crisis. SafeCharge Local, supported by Visa, enables consumers to make payments online and over the phone whilst also providing a better consumer experience in store by reducing queues and limiting the need for close customer contact at the point of sale. At the heart of SafeCharge Local is a digital payment solution called Paylink, which enables businesses to receive payments through the use of QR codes and secure payment links without the need for a physical point of sale terminal or an online shop.

Visa has filed a patent application to create "digital fiat currency" on a centralized computer using blockchain technology. The computer generates digital currency for the denomination requested and links it to a serial number, and records it on a blockchain. http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=/netahtml/PTO/srchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=20200151682.PGNR.

Visa published a paper on its "universal payments channel" (UPC) that will facilitate transactions between various stablecoins and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Specifically, it proposes a hub-and-spoke payment route that can be used to support digital token transfers of funds across different networks through payment channels. The UPC protocol facilitates payments through a "UPC hub" that acts as a gateway to receive payment requests from registered sending parties and routes them to registered recipient parties.

Visa launched its Global Crypto Advisory Practice to help clients and partners advance their crypto journeys. Through their work with more than 60 crypto platforms, Visa's global network of consultants and product experts have deep expertise to help financial institutions evaluate the crypto opportunity, develop concrete strategies, and pilot new user experiences and innovations like crypto rewards programs and CBDC-integrated consumer wallets.

Facebook is looking to raise $1 billion for its rumored cryptocurrency stablecoin, the WSJ reports. Facebook was also said to be talking Visa and MasterCard about potential support, along with payment processor First Data Corp.

Crypto custodian Anchorage has raised $40m in Series B funding, with participation by Visa and Andreessen Horowitz who both happen to be Libra founding members.

While Libra project supposedly has 28 founding partners, according to Visa, who is one of them, only nonbinding letters of intent to join Libra have been signed, so no one has yet officially joined. I've read elsewhere that also, no one has anted up the $10m minimum stake.

UK-based digital banking app Revolut announced a major partnership with Visa to expand its services globally across 24 new markets, including North America.

A main limitation blockchain faces is that it is deadly slow compared to centralized payment systems run by Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. While Ethereum is evolving to close that gap, a network like Ava could gain an advantage on Wall Street if its test numbers of processing 6,500 transactions per second can be replicated in a live environment. Visa says its network can handle more than 24,000 retail transactions per second, while Bitcoin currently processes about six and Ethereum 15.

Visa Inc. is planning the biggest changes in a decade to the rates U.S. merchants pay to accept its cards, hoping to persuade more people to abandon checks and adjusting its fees for new businesses such as ride-hailing services.

The Central Bank of Azerbaijan and VISA signed an agreement on strategic cooperation to expand digital payments in Azerbaijan. The new strategic agreement will accelerate the development of non-cash payments in the Azerbaijani market, the introduction of innovative payment solutions, as well as through mobile devices, as well as the implementation of initiatives to expand financial literacy and inclusiveness.

As CBDCs emerge as a major disruptor to existing infrastructure, interoperability remains one of the most significant roadblocks to their functionality. Although most financial institutions remained wary of digital currencies, payment players like Visa, Mastercard and PayPal have not only accepted the concept of cryptocurrencies and CBDCs but are constantly innovating on both fronts. The future could see them carving out a new niche for themselves - as the interoperability layer for the upcoming CBDC world.

Two U.S. lawmakers - Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii - have asked three payments giants Visa, Mastercard and Stripe to reconsider their partnerships with Facebook-led proposed stablecoin project, Libra.