The price of Ethereum has been surging over the past few days largely due to the recent price jumps experienced by bitcoin, the world’s leading cryptocurrency by market cap. However, the Ethereum jump can also potentially be traced to a recent announcement made by payment processing company Visa that it would put much of its focus towards stable currencies in the coming months.
Visa Is Making Stable Coins Mainstream
Ethereum is the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap after bitcoin. However, where it has its parent beat is that it is much more popular amongst developers looking to establish new coins (largely stable coins) and blockchain applications. Ethereum is widely known for its smart contract capabilities, which means it’s a prime choice amongst developers of new assets.
However, Ethereum has run into something of a standstill over the past year given its lack of scalability, in the words of co-founder Vitalik Buterin. The Ethereum network has proven to be so popular that it has been bogged down heavily over the years with a surplus of activity, leading to hardcore traffic congestion and an increase in gas prices.
This has caused Ethereum to allegedly lose some of its developers and community members to competing networks like TRON and EOS, but still Ethereum has managed to retain a high-ranking position amongst crypto and blockchain developers, and with Visa stepping deeper into the stable currency department, perhaps things are about to get even better for the world’s second-largest coin.
It was announced earlier in the week that the credit card enterprise would be expanding its horizons to support new kinds of money, which would potentially include digital currencies and stable assets. The company explained that its new digital currency wallets would feature all the company’s abilities including Visa Direct and Zether, an Ethereum smart contract.
Just yesterday, Live Bitcoin News reported that financial companies such as Visa are beginning to see crypto in a completely different light, and this latest news is more proof that things are changing for crypto. Credit cards and crypto are, for the most part, complete opposites. One is a financial tool offered by centralized institutions that have the power to choose whom they issue such products to.
How Things Are Changing for Crypto
Granted your payment or employment history is shaky, the issuing bank can potentially turn you down for a new credit or debit card, preventing you from garnering the items you’ll need to survive.
Bitcoin and crypto, on the other hand, is fully decentralized, meaning they don’t care what your financial history is like or where you come from. Granted you have access to an exchange or digital wallet of some kind, you’re in tip-top shape to begin trading, selling and using crypto in a way that best suits your needs.
