The largest payment processor in the world, Visa, said on Sunday that it was ending its global credit card arrangements with the defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX. A Visa representative told Reuters, "The situation with FTX is regrettable, and we are monitoring developments closely." "We have ended our global partnerships with FTX, and their issuer is winding down its US debit card operation."
Early in October, FTX and Visa announced an expanded cooperation, outlining intentions to roll out account-linked Visa debit cards in 40 new nations.
Visa, a financial services company operating since 1958, stated at the time that it thought virtual currencies were here to stay and will eventually have a significant impact on the future of financial services globally.
In accordance with the now-severed agreement, FTX was to provide company-branded Visa debit cards to all of its customers worldwide, enabling users to use cryptocurrency balances kept in FTX wallets to make purchases at merchants that accept the Visa card. Additionally, there would not have been any processing or administrative fees for utilizing these FTX Visa debit cards.
Visa has recently filed a series of trademark applications that seem to indicate a wider entry into the crypto markets. The most recent trademark applications for credit giant Visa were made public on October 27 by licensed trademark attorney Mike Kondoudis. According to the filings, the company may be planning to create or introduce its own digital asset wallet. Software for controlling digital, virtual, and cryptocurrency transactions as well as cryptocurrency wallets were mentioned in the two trademark submissions. There were also measures for auditing blockchain assets, utility tokens, and cryptocurrencies.
The scope of Visa's trademark applications extended beyond cryptocurrency wallets and transaction software. Provisions for non-fungible tokens were also added (NFTs). Additionally, Visa submitted trademark applications for "non-downloadable virtual products" like NFT collectibles. With phrases like "Providing virtual environments in which users can interact for recreational, leisure, or entertainment purposes accessible in the virtual world," the descriptions even alluded to Metaverse ambitions.
