Visa has announced a new Crypto Advisory Services division to assist its customers negotiate the ins and outs of cryptocurrency. With the crypto market booming in recent years, many players have entered, but none the size of Visa, potentially signalling a seismic shift in the landscape.

We may be getting a head of itself, but the further integration of a major financial player like Visa to the table does add some weight, not to mention the size and scope of its network.

As such, a year from now we could be talking about Visa as being one of the key firms in the global crypto market.

For now though, the newly announced division will sit under its Consulting and Analytics arm, with the aim of helping, “clients and partners advance their own crypto journey.”

“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,” it adds.

The firm is therefore positioning itself as an expert in the market, and given the amount of grifting, scams and general hesitancy from those unfamiliar with crypto, this looks a rather shrewd move on the part of Visa.

“We’ve seen a material shift in our clients’ mindset in the last year, from a desire to explore and experiment with crypto, to actually building a strategy and product roadmap,” notes Carl Rutstein, Global head of Visa Consulting & Analytics.

“Today, Visa is engaging with clients and partners in every region, including the U.S., where Visa’s team is working with UMB Financial Corporation,” he adds.

At the time of writing, no South African or indeed African partner has been outlined by Visa on this newly announced initiative, but given the fervour locally around crypto, we expect an announcement in the regard to be made soon.

[Image – Photo by Emil Kalibradov on Unsplash]