Traditional credit card company Visa is making headlines once again with an investment in a cryptocurrency startup called Anchorage.
Anchorage, which bills itself as “a new standard for digital asset custody,” helps build frameworks for crypto-native systems that will help with institutional investment.
As reported by Cointelegraph, Visa’s buy-in to Anchorage is the company’s second such foray into crypto incubation with a previous sponsorship of Chain, now acquired by Stellar, in 2015.
Anchorage’s aim is security – as an alternative to cold storage wallets, Anchorage has invested in specific processes and protocols to achieve secure results for Bitcoin and digital asset holders.
“In late May, Anchorage introduced its insurance coverage solution, opposing it to the majority of custodians that use a combination of cold and hot storage,” reports Helen Partz in Cointelegraph today. “Claiming that not all coverage of crypto custody insurance is equal, the company announced that they acquired a crime insurance policy, which covers both types of digital asset storage under one policy.
As for other arrows in Visa’s crypto currency quiver, there’s also the internal Visa B2B Connect cross-border payments system developed in-house, as well as Visa’s prominent investment into Facebook Libra, where the credit card company invested $10 million in order to become a node holder in the stablecoin’s eventual administration.
Libra, according to Facebook remarks, will be backed by a basket of fiat currencies, and the node holders will be active in maintaining it. Many feel that these node holders will get significant benefit from their membership in the Facebook coin, which is likely to include in-app purchasing power and may vault cryptocurrency into a much wider spot in our consumer world.
The recent joining of Visa with Anchorage is one more step for a company that has been out in front in the crypto vanguard for a while. Other banking firms might well take a page from the Visa playbook as crypto momentum continues to develop.
There are many reasons for recent crypto surges: from trade wars and a weak dollar to Bitcoin ATMs and greater consumer opportunity, but in the end, it takes faith to wade out further into crypto waters. Visa seems confident.