Visa: Bitcoin and blockchain are no longer a choice for payment industry

Visa has published an article in which it claims that 2015 was the "year for payments", while making some interesting analysis of the payments landscape. In the article, Visa claims that the events of the last year mean that Bitcoin and blockchain technology are aspects that the industry has to deal with; they are not going away, and their impact will only become more pronounced. Visa also claims that Bitcoin "is no longer a choice", and that the formalisation of virtual money as a commodity, together with the potential unmasking of its creator, make "it more real than ever before". However, it also points out the need to build the public's trust in the technology, which has been lacking since its creation in 2009.

How Does Visa Europe View Blockchain Tech?

January 4, 2016 By: Asif Imtiaz

In a recent article from Visa Europe discussed the situation in the Fintech industry in 2015 and emphasized the important role Bitcoin played over the past year.

The article said that Blockchain technology and Bitcoin are now “more real than ever.”

“When 2015 arrived a lot of innovation chatter in Fintech focused on Bitcoin, but as we leave the year that focus has shifted substantially to the blockchain,” said the article. It went on to declare that “2015 has turned Blockchain into something the industry has to live with.”

Over the past year, large scale banks took interest in Bitcoin, which later turned into massive collaborative research projects with industry experts and academics. However, in the second half of 2015, the focus turned into using the core technology behind Bitcoin, the Blockchain.

A lot of high ranking financial institutions, including some of the largest banks, insurance providers, and stock exchanges are now experimenting with the Blockchain technology to find innovative ways to use the distributed asset allocation model of Blockchain in real financial applications.

Hence, when Visa Europe, which is basically an association of over 3,700 European banks, says that “It [Bitcoin] is no longer a choice anymore. Recent news speculating about the identity of its creator and the formalisation of virtual money as a commodity, just makes it more real than ever before,” they are on to something.

However, going forward, Visa Europe highlighted two district challenges for the Blockchain and Bitcoin.

According to Visa, proponents of Bitcoin and overall Blockchain technology needs work together to make the general public have trust in the system. This is because, a lack of trust in the Bitcoin has been one of the pressing issues since its creation in 2009.

Furthermore, Visa highlighted in the article that financial institutions need to find a way to integrate the Blockchain technology to solve “real-world” problems like international fund transfers.