Is Crypto Adoption Going More Mainstream?
In what is touted as a monumental development in the digital asset industry, OpenAI is in discussions with Visa for a stablecoin wallet.
The partnership between Visa and World Network, a cryptocurrency project by Sam Altman, will be a landmark deal for the industry, as this would mean
mainstream infrastructure for the digital assets industry.
The deal in the works will enable stablecoin-based payments to merchants on Visa's massive global network and add the payment giant's capabilities to World Network wallets.
It highlights how firms in the industry are working to incorporate crypto into the payments infrastructure as digital assets gain traction in the public.
Altman, the head of OpenAI, helped build World Network. The company's flagship offering is World ID, which it describes as a digital passport that authenticates the user's humanity and sets them apart from online chatbots powered by artificial intelligence.
Visa and World Network deal would also mean the merger of two of the most important and latest tech innovations.
Worldcoin's Wallet would result in self-custody and the ability to make global payments with stablecoins. Cross-border payments with Visa's massive merchant infrastructure would be used with crypto instead of currencies.
Visa integration will bring on-chain card functionality to the crypto sector and enable fiat on/off ramps for thousands of merchants.
The "Mini bank" vision includes FX, apps, and asset trading, led by Tools for Humanity, the parent company of Worldcoin.
This deal matters as it will result in mainstream infrastructure for digital assets, and Visa's involvement will mean real-world guardrails.
The US is starting to accept stables as usable money, and the partnership will enhance that status.
Altman's move from AI to crypto will be a huge name entrant.
The news from the crypto's mainstream adoption widens to Trump Media teaming up with Crypto.com to launch Exchange Traded Funds on Truth.Fi.
US President Donald Trump's media enterprise, Trump Media & Technology Group, announced on Monday its collaboration with Crypto.com to introduce exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and products under the Truth.Fi brand.
Shares of the firm operating the social networking platform Truth Social surged by 10.5% after market close on Monday. However, they have declined by nearly 40% over the past year.
The ETFs, offered via Crypto.com's broker-dealer Foris Capital, would encompass digital assets and securities with an emphasis on "Made in America" across many sectors, as stated in the announcement.
International markets, including those in the Americas, Europe, and Asia, will have access to the funds when they launch later this year.
For the ETFs, Crypto.com will supply custody, backend technology, and cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin and Cronos (Crypto.com's native token).
In January, amidst the cryptocurrency surge, Trump Media announced the debut of its FinTech brand, Truth.Fi, which offers financial services.
With a cash balance of more than $700 million as of the end of last year, the board of directors has also approved an investment of up to $250 million through Charles Schwab to diversify the company's assets.
ETFs, separately managed accounts (SMAs), and cryptocurrency are among the investment alternatives that Trump Media has stated it intends to use with these monies.
Trump Media announced in February that it has trademark applications pending for six investment products that follow the US industrial and energy sectors and Bitcoin.
These developments point to more mainstream adoption of cryptos after big investment houses dipped into the sector.
Elsewhere
Blockcast
Chris Yu co-founded SignalPlus in 2021 to address key gaps in the crypto options market, leveraging his experience as a trader and his insights into the market's early-stage potential.
In this Blockcast episode, Yu explains why he sees the state of crypto options resembling the FX options market around 2000 and why there is an opportunity to build infrastructure that could scale with the industry's growth.
Previous episodes of Blockcast can be found on Podpage, with guests like Samar Sen ( Talos), Jason Choi (Tangent), Lasanka Perera (Independent Reserve), Mark Rydon (Aethir), Peter Hui (Moongate), Luca Prosperi (M^0), Charles Hoskinson (Cardano), Aneirin Flynn (Failsafe), and Yat Siu (Animoca Brands) on our most recent shows.
It's All Happening on LinkedIn
Did you know you can now receive Blockhead's juicy daily newsletters directly to your LinkedIn? Subscribe to our LinkedIn newsletters for the latest news and insights in the world of Web3. There also might be the occasional discount code for the industry's hottest events, exclusively for subscribers!