The chief executive of credit card giant Visa remains confident that blockchain-powered solutions can be integrated into its services and offerings to power the next generation of payments.
Speaking on aĀ callĀ at Visaās annual stockholder meeting on Jan. 24, outgoing CEO Al Kelly ā who will officially step down on Feb. 1 ā briefly shared the firmās plans for central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and private stablecoins.
According to a Jan. 24Ā reportĀ from San Francisco Business Times, Kelly said:
āItās very early days, but we continue to believe that stablecoins and central bank digital currencies have the potential to play a meaningful role in the payments space, and we have a number of initiatives underway.ā
āWeāve had an immaterial amount of investments in crypto funds and companies as we seek to invest in the payments ecosystem,ā the outgoing CEO explained.
Kelly also confirmed that Visaās balance sheet hasnāt been impacted by some of the āhigh-profile failuresā that rocked the cryptocurrency space in 2022:
āWeāve had no credit losses related to these failures [...] In everything we do, please know that weāre extremely focused on maintaining the integrity of Visaās payment system and the payment system in totality and of course, the reputation of our brand standing for trust.ā
Over the years, Visa has worked on a number of crypto-related initiatives.
Its research teamĀ began working on a blockchain interoperability projectĀ in September 2021 named the Universal Payment Channel (UPC) initiative. The project was designed to establish a ānetwork of networksā for CBDCs and private stablecoins to pass through various payment channels.
Visa hasnāt provided an update on the UPC in over 12 months,Ā however.
More recently, the payment giant announced on Dec. 20 that it wasĀ chalking up a planĀ to allow automated bills to be paid out from a userās Ethereum-powered wallet.
Visa has also rolled out several āzero feeā cryptocurrency debit cards of late including aĀ now-terminated agreementĀ with FTX and aĀ partnership with Blockchain.comĀ on Oct. 26, which is still in effect.
While Visaās 2022 annualĀ reportĀ only included data up until Sept. 30 ā about five weeks before FTX collapsed ā more information may be revealed in Visaās Q1 2023 earningsĀ callĀ on Jan. 26.
Visa President Ryan McInerney will officially replace Al Kelly as CEO on Feb. 1, while Kelly will remain on board as executive chairman.
McInerney appears to be equally, if not more bullish on blockchain-powered payment solutions too.
In anĀ interviewĀ with Fortune in November, McInerney said Visa still has ā$14 trillion of cash out there being spent by consumers that can be digitizedā and that theyāre continuing to explore where crypto payments may be best leveraged.