At the company's annual call with shareholders, outgoing CEO Alfred Kelly said that Visa has several crypto initiatives underway, including the Universal Payment Channel (UPC) initiative and programmable payments for stablecoins.
Visa's Blockchain Strategies
Visa has actively explored the potential of blockchain technology and crypto in the payments space, with the company investing in several crypto funds and companies. In September 2021, Visa started working on a blockchain interoperability project called the Universal Payment Channel (UPC) initiative, which aims to establish a "network of networks" for private stablecoins and CBDCs to flow through various payment channels.
Additionally, in December, Visa released a technical paper on programmable payments for self-custodial wallets. Kelly said that despite the bear market in 2022, Visa's balance sheet did not suffer due to its crypto investments.
