Visa shares plans for ‘ambitious’ crypto product

Global payment giant Visa continues to explore the benefits of the cryptocurrency industry with a new initiative focused on stablecoin payments.

Cuy Sheffield, head of crypto at Visa, took to Twitter on April 24 to announce a new cryptocurrency-related project developed by the firm.

Visa’s upcoming crypto product is designed to drive mainstream adoption of public blockchain networks and stablecoin payments, Sheffield noted.

We have an ambitious crypto product roadmap @Visa and just opened a few reqs for senior software engineers to help us drive mainstream adoption of public blockchain networks and stablecoin payments. https://t.co/UQRJNcOJtB

— Cuy Sheffield (@cuysheffield) April 24, 2023

According to a Visa job posting published on April 20, the company’s crypto division is building the “next generation of products” to facilitate the digital commerce of everyday life.

In order to develop the product, Visa is seeking to hire software engineers focused on programming, backend systems Web3 technologies.

“Particularly interested in experience using Github Copilot and other AI assisted engineering tools to write and debug smart contracts,” Sheffield wrote on Twitter.

Among preferred applicant qualifications, Visa listed a good understanding of Layer 1 and Layer 2 solutions alongside experience with writing smart contracts using the programming language Solidity. Introduced specifically by the Ethereum Network, Solidity is used to create smart contracts on blockchain platforms and generate a chain of transaction records in the blockchain system.

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The position also requires good understanding of public and permissioned distributed ledger networks, security protocols, private key custody as well as new Ethereum enhancements such as ERC-4337.

One of the world’s largest payments companies, Visa made a major move into the crypto industry in 2020, partnering with the blockchain firm Circle to support the USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin on certain credit cards. The firm has been gradually expanding its crypto offering but halted some new industry partnerships due to the crypto bear market of 2022 and major industry collapses like Celsius and FTX.

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