Visa and First Boulevard work to achieve cryptographic characteristics

Last Wednesday, February 3, Visa’s cryptographic products manager, Raj Parekh, announced through his Twitter account that Visa and First Boulevard are working to achieve cryptographic characteristics. “The new product that Visa has been building together with First Boulevard will allow FI / fintechs to add cryptographic features to their products”, he said.

“Visa uses First Boulevard, neobank focused on financial empowerment of the black community, as a partner for the new crypto API pilot program, which will be launched later this year,” published the Business Wire portal.

Visa’s head of crypto, Cuy Sheffield, also reacted to the announcement, adding that “we continue to advance our strategy to make Visa the bridge between thousands of financial institutions and Bitcoin.”

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Notably, First Boulevard will be the first to test Visa’s new set of crypto APIs, which will allow its customers to buy, hold, and exchange digital assets held by Anchorage, a federally licensed bank of digital assets, according to Business Wire.

Additionally, as an initial part of testing and learning, Visa indicated that it would explore various ways in which financial institutions that lack their own digital currency infrastructure can take advantage of the Visa platform to take advantage of the growing world of crypto assets and crypto networks. blockchain.

“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 crypto wallet network with 35 crypto platforms choosing to issue with Visa,” said Jack Forestell, Chief Product Officer, Visa, while adding that “with this pilot program, we want to extend the value of Visa to our financial institution and neobank customers by providing an easy bridge to crypto assets and blockchain networks”.

Diversity in products and partnerships

Through an article published by Business Wirea, Visa committed to incorporating diversity and inclusion in its actions and marketing strategies. “By prioritizing partners like First Boulevard, Visa aims to level the playing field when it comes to access to new technologies,” he noted in the article.

The company also announced on Wednesday a series of partnerships that emphasize Visa’s commitment “to closing the financial gap in the black community.” “First Boulevard’s mission is to help African Americans build wealth”, said Donald Hawkins, President and CEO of First Boulevard.

Crypto API pilot program

As part of the initial pilot program, Visa indicated that it plans to allow First Boulevard to connect to the infrastructure provided by Visa partner Anchorage, a federally licensed digital asset bank, to enable its customers to buy and sell Bitcoin. “Visa’s crypto API pilot program is an important step forward, both for the proliferation of cryptocurrencies as an asset class, and for the accessibility and inclusion of payments and financial services. We are delighted to be working with Visa and First Boulevard to build the infrastructure for a more secure and equitable financial future”, said Diogo Monica, president and co-founder of Anchorage.