Visa Expands Digital Currency Roadmap with First Boulevard
February 03 2021 - 7:00AM
Business Wire
Visa taps First Boulevard, neobank focused on
Black community financial empowerment, as partner for new crypto
API pilot program, anticipated to launch later this year
Visa (NYSE:V) today announced a partnership with First
Boulevard, a digitally native neobank focused on building
generational wealth for the Black community. First Boulevard will
be first to pilot Visa’s new suite of crypto APIs, which will
enable their customers to purchase, custody and trade digital
assets held by Anchorage, a federally chartered digital asset bank.
The pilot will serve as a key first step in supporting API
capabilities that help additional Visa clients access and integrate
crypto features into their product offering, and is anticipated to
launch later this year.
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Visa taps First Boulevard, neobank
focused on Black community financial empowerment, as partner for
new crypto API pilot program, anticipated to launch later this
year. (Graphic: Business Wire)
The development of Visa’s crypto APIs marks the next phase of
Visa’s digital currency strategy—focused on expanding the company’s
role as a network-of-networks. As part of this initial test and
learn phase, Visa will explore ways in which financial institutions
lacking their own digital currency infrastructure can harness
Visa’s platform for tapping into the growing world of crypto assets
and blockchain networks.
“We set out to make Visa the bridge between digital currencies
and our global network of 70 million merchants and today we are the
leading network for crypto wallets with 35 crypto platforms
choosing to issue with Visa,” said Jack Forestell, chief product
officer, Visa. “With this pilot program, we want to extend the
value of Visa to our neobank and financial institution clients by
providing an easy bridge to crypto assets and blockchain
networks.”
Advancing Diversity in Products and Partnerships
As a brand that stands for global acceptance, Visa is committed
to embedding diversity and inclusion into its partnership and
go-to-market strategies. By prioritizing partners like First
Boulevard, Visa aims to level the playing field when it comes to
access to new technologies. In addition to our pilot with First
Boulevard, Visa today also announced a series of partnerships
emphasizing the company’s commitment to closing the financial gap
in the Black community.
“The First Boulevard mission is to help Black America build
wealth,” said Donald Hawkins, president and chief executive
officer, First Boulevard. "We are thrilled to partner with the
leader in digital payments, Visa, and leverage their crypto APIs to
provide another channel for the Black community to access crypto as
a new asset class that can help build Black wealth.”
First Boulevard will also launch a First Boulevard Visa Debit
card, which offers digital-first features, including early access
to wages with Early Direct Deposit, a Cash Back for Buying Black™
program, and financial education and budgeting tools to improve
spending habits. First Boulevard plans to incorporate financial
literacy education into their core platform with bite sized
“playlists” that their consumers can listen to in order to learn
key concepts about money and investing. Visa will work together
with them to develop educational resources and materials on this
platform to help make new asset classes and technologies like
crypto more accessible to underserved communities.
Crypto APIs Pilot Program
As part of the initial pilot program, Visa plans to enable First
Boulevard to connect to infrastructure provided by Visa’s partner,
Anchorage, a federally chartered digital asset bank, to allow their
customers to buy and sell Bitcoin.
"Visa’s crypto APIs pilot program is a significant step forward
both for the proliferation of crypto as an asset class, and for
accessibility and inclusion in payments and financial services. We
are thrilled to be working alongside Visa and First Boulevard to
build the infrastructure for a more secure and equitable financial
future,” said Diogo Monica, president and co-founder,
Anchorage.
To join the waitlist to pilot these new capabilities as they
become available, sign up here.
About Visa Inc.
Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) is the world’s leader in digital payments.
Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative,
reliable and secure payment network - enabling individuals,
businesses and economies to thrive. Our advanced global processing
network, VisaNet, provides secure and reliable payments around the
world, and is capable of handling more than 65,000 transaction
messages a second. The company’s relentless focus on innovation is
a catalyst for the rapid growth of digital commerce on any device,
for everyone, everywhere. As the world moves from analog to
digital, Visa is applying our brand, products, people, network and
scale to reshape the future of commerce. For more information,
visit About Visa, visa.com/blog and @VisaNews.
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Visa Sheerin Salimi shesalim@visa.com
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