The CoinGeek Pulse Episode 30: Visa adding digital currencies, Swiss Blockchain Law starts and Genesis anniversary

This week, Visa wants to join the club of tech giants adding digital currencies in their networks.

CEO Al Kely reaffirmed during the Q1 fiscal earnings call Visa’s commitment to adding digital currency in their payments network. This isn’t the first time the company has expressed its intention of working with blockchain and digital assets publicly. In 2016, the company filed a patent for blockchain-based transaction system related to “methods and systems for using digital signatures to create trusted digital asset transfers” and another in 2019 described as “digital fiat currency.”

During the call, Kelly said digital currencies are predominantly held as assets—not used as a form of payment. He shared that Visa plans to work with wallets and exchanges to enable users to purchase these currencies using their Visa credentials. This also includes cashing out onto a Visa credential to make a fiat purchase at any of the 70 million merchants accepting VISA globally.

“To the extent a specific digital currency becomes a recognized means of exchange, there’s no reason why we cannot add it to our network,” Kelly said.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin SV hit a record of 9,000 transactions per second (tps) during the Scaling Test Network run last week. This rivals Visa’s average of around 1,700 tps while BTC has an average of maximum of only 7 tps.

In Europe, Switzerland officially advances blockchain finance into the mainstream with the implementation of the Blockchain Law.

The Blockchain Law has implemented Phase One on February 1, covering company reforms. This will be followed by Phase Two set in August 2021, which covers infrastructure upgrades. The new law opens the doors to a fully regulated digital currency space in the country.

With the implementation of the law, licensed companies can now enable trading digital securities from company shares to tokenized assets like luxury goods, collectibles, and real estate. ‘First movers’ SEBA and Sygnum banks have also announced their first digital assets on February 1. Other entities and companies are set to follow and release digital assets through the bank.

Switzerland now joins Liechtenstein as one of first few countries to pass a comprehensive digital currency and blockchain regulations into a national law.

In other news, this week also marks the first anniversary of the Genesis Upgrade. The protocol restoration, which unlocked BSV’s massive on-chain scaling power and greater technical capabilities, took place on February 4, 2020.

Watch CoinGeek Chief Historian Kurt Wuckert Jr.’s Genesis Anniversary livestream to learn more about this momentous event in the history of Bitcoin. Also, tune in to watch Kurt’s new show—CoinGeek Weekly Livestream which premieres on February 9 and will air every Tuesday thereafter. 

Speaking of new shows, a mix between a game-show and a pitch competition plus a hackathon debuted this week. “Bitcoin’s Got Talent” features contestants pitching their Bitcoin businesses to a set of judges—Isaac Morehouse, Jack Liu, and River as well as one guest judge. This week, TK Coleman graced the premiere episode as the guest judge.

 Judges vote on whether to send the contestant to the next round or to vote them off the show. Find out who made it to the next round by watching “Bitcoin’s Got Talent.”