Global payment giant Visa supports USDC Settlement transactions

Recently, global payment giant Visa announced a significant breakthrough: successfully using the dollar-backed stablecoin USDC to complete transaction settlements on the Visa network through the Ethereum network. This innovative initiative closely connects the world of cryptocurrency with traditional fiat currency.

After the news was announced, the price of Bitcoin surged rapidly, breaking through the $59,000 mark, with an increase of over 8%.

Visa has announced a pilot project with a certain cryptocurrency payment platform and plans to roll out this service to more partners later this year. Reports indicate that this move will enable more than 61 million customers on the Visa network to make payments using cryptocurrency.

The support for digital currencies as a new settlement method marks significant progress in Visa's "network of networks" strategy. This strategy aims to enhance various forms of fund flows both within and outside the Visa network. Visa is leveraging its global influence, partnerships, and brand reputation to create differentiated value for the ecosystem, making cryptocurrencies safer, more practical, and better suited for payment scenarios.

Institutions are increasingly laying out plans for cryptocurrencies

Since last year, major institutions have begun actively laying out strategies in the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency fields. Visa's entry may also be influenced by this larger environment, and institutional investors seem to be showing a "chasing the rise" phenomenon.

Before Visa, another mainstream payment platform had already announced support for the buying, selling, and payment services of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. The CEO of this platform even personally recorded a video demonstrating the process of purchasing jeans with Bitcoin. This platform holds a position in the overseas payment sector comparable to a well-known domestic Alipay. The ability to directly purchase cryptocurrencies or use them to pay for goods on such an important platform will undoubtedly bring massive traffic and a positive impact to the cryptocurrency industry.

The chairman of a certain aerospace company tweeted after announcing support for Bitcoin on the above payment platform: "Major banks are discussing how to support Bitcoin; this is no longer an option."

A well-known cryptocurrency investment fund has increased its investment efforts this year, frantically buying Bitcoin. As of now, the number of Bitcoins held by this fund has reached 650,000, making it the largest institutional holder in the world. The fund's operating model dictates that it can only continue to buy and cannot sell; investors effectively lock up their cash and Bitcoins by giving them to the fund, and the market does not need to worry about these coins being significantly dumped.

In addition to institutions providing "purchase services", a certain software company has become the world's first publicly traded company to officially adopt Bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset. Currently, the company has purchased over 20,000 Bitcoins through various channels and continues to seek opportunities to increase its holdings at various price levels. The founder of the company has also begun hoarding Bitcoin personally and has purchased over 10,000 Bitcoins so far.

After this software company took action, other large companies also began to hoard Bitcoin in succession. In October 2020, a major American mobile payment giant announced an investment of $50 million to purchase approximately 4,709 Bitcoins as reserve assets. Five days later, an asset management company managing over $10 billion in assets revealed that it had purchased more than 10,000 Bitcoins, worth about $114 million, as part of its asset reserve strategy.

What is even more striking is that on February 8 this year, a well-known electric vehicle manufacturer suddenly announced a $1.5 billion investment in Bitcoin and stated that it would soon support the use of Bitcoin to purchase its products. This news quickly ignited the market, with the price of Bitcoin rising nearly 14% within an hour, reaching a high of $44,195.

Even some analysts from traditional financial institutions who have long held a negative attitude towards Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are starting to change their stance, with some even predicting that the price of Bitcoin will reach $400,000 in the 2021 bull market.

Cryptocurrency Goes Mainstream

With the promotion of numerous institutions, cryptocurrencies were no longer seen as an alternative market in 2021, and more and more institutions and investors began to pay attention to the blockchain and cryptocurrency fields.

The recent influx of institutions may have the following impacts on the industry:

1. Promote industry compliance and integrate into the mainstream world. With major institutions entering the market in droves, Bitcoin's market value has surpassed one trillion USD, and the global influence of Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency market has changed significantly. This has forced regulators to actively respond, formulate relevant laws and regulations, and promote the industry towards compliance. Countries like the United States, Singapore, and Japan have begun to explore the integration of cryptocurrencies with the traditional financial world at the regulatory level, instead of simply rejecting them. This will provide more policy support for industry development, pushing the crypto world into a new stage of standardization and mainstream acceptance.

2. Expand market consensus and attract more investors to participate. In the past, due to regulatory restrictions, many ordinary people and investors lacked understanding and interest in Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Now, with more institutions and corporate platforms supporting the use of cryptocurrencies for settlement or payment, more users have the opportunity to come into contact with cryptocurrencies and recognize their value and advantages. This will gradually change people's attitudes, prompting more individuals to delve deeper into the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency market, ultimately transforming from onlookers to real investors.

3. Enhance investor confidence and lead to a super bull market. The characteristic of large institutions is that they have substantial capital and tend to invest for the long term, mainly valuing Bitcoin's anti-inflation and store of value appreciation effects, and they will not easily sell. As more and more institutions begin to accumulate Bitcoin, it will continuously stimulate the enthusiasm of a wide range of investors, strengthen market confidence, and trigger a sustained upward trend. This is also why the bull market of 2021 is considered to have shifted from being led by retail investors to being led by institutions.

Seize the Opportunity

Any great innovation faces doubts and criticism in its early stages, as it often clashes with the mainstream of the time. However, they represent new trends in the future and historical development.

Bitcoin is a controversial new entity that has been in existence since its inception. After eleven years of development, despite facing numerous crackdowns and blockades, it remains resilient and increasingly demonstrates its vigorous vitality and value.

In the upcoming digital economy era, digital assets will become a necessity in everyone's daily life, and allocating high-quality digital assets will also become a required course for every investor.

As more and more institutions and even sovereign nations begin to embrace Bitcoin in the future, this market will gradually mature and stabilize, and opportunities will not be as abundant as they are now. As a relatively early participant, what are you waiting for?