Visa Inc. announced Wednesday that it’s partnering with more than 50 cryptocurrency companies, including Coinbase Inc. and Crypto.com, to allow merchants to spend and convert virtual currencies through its card program.

According to the company, that will open up the ability to spend and convert cryptocurrencies at more than 70 million merchants worldwide. Visa has already processed more than $1 billion on its crypto-linked cards worldwide in the first half of 2021.

An important element of its program is that it doesn’t require merchants to directly accept cryptocurrencies at checkout, Visa does the processing.

With more people buying, trading and holding cryptocurrencies, Visa wants to be able to allow merchants to accept them. However, merchants do not want the complexity of having to worry about updating their point of sale to accept the thousands of possible types of cryptocurrencies that exist. Visa takes that out of their hands.

Visa is also expanding its rewards for consumers who use its crypto-linked cards. New loyalty programs let users spend money and earn crypto rewards similar to hotel and airline miles, for example with the BlockFi Rewards Visa Credit Card. The company believes this will help ensure the long-term loyalty of new adopters and crypto enthusiasts.

This expansion follows Visa’s plans to allow settlements using cryptocurrency on its network via a partnership with Crypto.com. This permits merchants and clients to settle transactions using USD Coin, a cryptocurrency known as a stablecoin, which pegs its value to the U.S. dollar.

Currently, more than $100 billion worth of stablecoins exist in circulation and hundreds of billions exchange each month on public blockchains. These stablecoins are becoming an exchange medium for vast digital economies and Visa hopes to use them as a developer-friendly model for settlement networks that its merchants can use.

Photo: VISA credit card/photopin