The major payment processing companies have been behind the curve since 2008, but it seems some of them are trying to make a comeback to capitalize on the emerging technology. Recent news also mentioned Visa, Paypal, and even Uber are investing in the new Facebook stable coin, aka Social Coin. With the big names trying to move into the blockchain industry, current speculators have to wonder if the market will have the strength to push back from the intrusion.
B2B Connect Payment Processor
Specifically, Visa seems to be encroaching into Ripples’s realm as an international payment processing utility. The aim of Visa’s new product, Connect, is to enable cross-border payments with a simple and transparent blockchain based system. This platform was previewed actually in 2016, and was scheduled to launch in mid-2018 for commercial use. Although, there were delays and now the system is finally launching fully with the blockchain based transaction system. The key feature that this system is offering is direct bank to bank transaction system. Without a question, the use of a blockchain based solution is huge for this industry that originally denied crypto or blockchain as anything more than a scam only a few years ago.
We are excited to announce our work with innovators from Commerce Bank in the United States, Shinhan Bank in South Korea, Union Bank of Philippines and United Overseas Bank in Singapore. We are beginning to process bank to-bank test transactions with a few of these partners, with others to follow soon, as we gear up for the commercial launch of Visa B2B Connect.-Visa, Late 2018
Ripple Vs Visa
Today, Visa is pushing this product into a new niche market. Their target customers will be high value corporate clients at first to run pilot tests with multiple solutions. After use cases and test runs are completed with a few willing clients, they will push forward into Ripple’s market, the big banks. Partnering with a massive payment processor company like Visa would make sense for these banks since the brand is trusted and has a good reputation.
Although, Visa is also not as confident and well sought after as it seems. They are known to have extremely high fees, and I can easily see corporations and banks wanting a new face in the game instead of the traditional market makers. Ripple or Stellar could potentially be that new face with an entirely new philosophy. It would not be hard to see Ripple capitalizing on some markets before Visa, simply due to regulatory and compliance concerns that Ripple has already had to over come for its products xRapid, xCurrent, and xVia. It seems Visa is behind the curve on some of the international requirements, even though it has been a stable payment processor for decades due to blockchain being completely different.
Additionally, Ripple has already built up a huge network of banks that are using the xRapid product, and testing out xCurrent and xVia. If I were Visa, I would try to capitalize on the high value corporate market and not try to go head to head with one of the largest projects in the space.
