Crypto Payments Boom Mostly Over, According To Visa CFO

According to Visa Inc.'s V financial results for the third quarter of 2021, the firm processed a significant volume of cryptocurrency transactions this year — but the hype is already over.

What Happened: While recent reports indicate that Visa saw its crypto cards process over $1 billion worth of payments in the first half of this year, Visa's chief financial officer Vasant Prabhu said during a Bloomberg interview that the bulk of those transactions took place in the first two months of the quarter. He noted that the spike in crypto payments took place in April and May before falling by June.

The decline in crypto card payments is so large that it may actually have a major impact on the overall data concerning Visa-powered payments. Prabhu said that without the previous large volume of crypto card payments, the cross-border volume could decrease even as international travel slowly getting back.

The company has been betting on cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology for some time. In fact, Visa started using stablecoin USD Coin USDC/USD for settlements at the end of March and has since partnered with numerous crypto businesses to power crypto payments — the payments that the firm processed over $1 billion worth of in Q3.

Price Action: Visa's stock closed at $246.40, 62% lower on Friday. It traded at $246.40 after-hours.

Bitcoin BTC/USD, on the other hand, is 7.36% up today and trading at $41,601, slightly down over the past 24-hours.