Monat: Januar 2022

Veröffentlicht am

Visa says its crypto-linked card payments hit $2.5 billion in Q1

  • Visa processed $2.5 billion in crypto payments in the three months ended 31 December

  • 65 platforms and exchanges have teamed up with Visa, including Coinbase and BlockFi

  • CEO Al Kelly said the payments giant “will continue to lean into the crypto space.”

Visa customers used their crypto-linked card to make payments totaling $2.5 billion during the global payments firm’s fiscal first quarter of 2022 ended 31 December.

The company processed transactions worth $46.7 billion during the quarter, an increase of 21% on the volume reported in the same quarter a year ago.

The amounts pushed the electronic funds transfer behemoth’s crypto volume to 70% of what was recorded in the fiscal year 2021, CEO Al Kelly said in an earnings call.

According to the Visa chief, the massive jump in payments made via the company’s crypto-linked cards came as the number of platforms and exchanges signing up with them soared from 54 to 65.

Some of the big-name candidates on the network include crypto exchange Coinbase and BlockFi- a US-based crypto wealth management provider.

Merchants who accept Visa-linked crypto payments have also increased significantly, hitting 100 million during the quarter, the company said in its earnings statement.

Kelly noted that the credit card payments giant “will continue to lean into the crypto space,” as they look to help the sector grow. Part of Visa’s strategy for this, he explained, is to enhance partnerships that help ensure connectivity, reliability, and security, with an eye to scaling services and value proposition to customers.

Visa chief financial officer Vasant Prabhu said the growth in crypto-linked card payments is a signal that users see the utility in the offering, CNBC reported. 

He pointed out that customers are increasingly finding value through access to liquidity and instant, seamless purchases.

The Visa CFO also noted that volumes continued to rise despite the slump in crypto markets. He also added that the payments were spread across various merchant verticals, including at retailers, restaurants, and travel.

The company has no crypto holdings but has increasingly looked to support merchants and platforms. In December, it announced a crypto advisory service that targets helping institutions and merchants.

According to the company, this is due to the growing adoption of crypto across payments. The service also aims at helping customers seeking to explore the non-fungible tokens (NFTs) space and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

The post Visa says its crypto-linked card payments hit $2.5 billion in Q1 appeared first on Coin Journal.

Veröffentlicht am

Demand-supply dynamics will send Bitcoin and Ethereum prices higher: Bloomberg analyst

  • Mike McGlone says Bitcoin and Ethereum prices could rally higher given their respective supply-demand dynamics.

  • Bitcoin price has bounced from weekly lows of $33K to trade around $38,700, while Ethereum looks to strengthen above $2,600 after bouncing off lows of $2,200.

  • Crypto has traded in lockstep with stocks amid headwinds associated with US Federal Reserve’s monetary tightening.

Bloomberg commodity strategist Mike McGlone believes the prices of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), the top two cryptocurrencies by market cap today, are yet to peak.

According to the analyst, the two cryptocurrencies are still in “early adoption days.” 

His suggestion? The potential for future price gains remains high as networks see more growth.  

He points to the increasing demand for the digital assets versus their respective declining supply and believes these could be key metrics in projections of further price implications.

Bitcoin has a fixed supply of 21 million while Ethereum’s recent upgrades have seen millions of dollars worth of ETH burned as the network looks to a supply cut.

“By the rules of economics, a market with rising demand and declining supply will go up over time, suggesting that Bitcoin may be forming a bottom again around $30,000 as $60,000 resistance ages,” McGlone said in an earlier comment.

As for Ethereum, he says bullish fundamentals remain intact even as price continued to fluctuate in the $2,000-$4,000 range. The price range, he notes, has bulls buying the dip while sellers try to defend the $4K barrier.

McGlone, however, says that “something unlikely [that] reverses the proliferation of the nascent [crypto] technology” would be bad for crypto markets.

Bitcoin’s lockstep trading with stocks

The analyst’s projections come at a time when crypto markets have traded more in lockstep with traditional financial markets.

Since the start of the year, Bitcoin price has fallen and bounced in tandem with returns on Wall Street, with sentiment seemingly hinged on the US Federal Reserve’s hawkish tilt amid rising inflation.

Bitcoin price has bounced from this week’s low of $33,000 to highs of $38,780 on 30 January, its weekly gains currently at 8%. Ether (ETH) has also rebounded from seven-day lows of $2,200 to trade around $2,600.

The weekend uptick comes after similar recoveries on Wall Street on Friday. The Nasdaq closed 3% higher and the S&P 500 edged +2.4% to claw back some of the weekly losses.

The post Demand-supply dynamics will send Bitcoin and Ethereum prices higher: Bloomberg analyst appeared first on Coin Journal.