Visa CEO: "Bitcoin is not a payment system"

According to the leader of the credit giant, Bitcoin is just a product in which "someone could invest."

Visa, the pioneer company in the field of credit cards, had so far had little to say about Bitcoin. However, in a recent interview published by CNBC, Alfred Kelly, CEO of the company, broke the silence.

Recorded at the conference of the National Retail Federation of New York, Kelly issued his opinion on the most famous cryptocurrency:

• "I do not see Bitcoin as a payment system but as a speculative product. In Visa we will not process transactions based on cryptoactives, only in fiat currency ".

The statement is aligned with the actions of the Visa subsidiary, Wavercrest, which eliminated its debit card services to dozens of European companies that specialize in cryptocurrency cards. The funny thing is that, at that time-about 15 days ago-Visa denied that she felt threatened by the electronic currencies and insisted that the suspension was due to irregularities with Wavercrest's own clients.

• "Considering that Visa processes more than 100 billion transactions a year compared to 130 million bitcoins, it is premature to say that the company feels threatened. Whatever Bitcoin is, it's not a killer for us so far. "

This way, many users in the community were not sure, and Kelly's comments have only reinforced suspicions, as they arrived just as the US Treasury Department described virtual currencies as a "threat in evolution".