Visa announces crypto partnership with neobank focused on services for Black communities

Bitcoin • February 3, 2021, 7:55AM EST
UPDATED: February 3, 2021, 8:02AM EST
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Visa is partnering with First Boulevard, a digital bank focused on "building generational wealth" for the Black community, on a test of the payments giant's new suite of crypto APIs. 

First Boulevard will be the first to test Visa's new suite of crypto APIs, which will enable customers to purchase, custody, and trade digital assets held by federally chartered bank Anchorage.

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The partnership signals a new phase of Visa's digital currency strategy through which it wants to connect more financial institutions with its crypto and blockchain services, according to the company.

"With this pilot program, we want to extend the value of Visa to our neobank and financial institution clients by providing an easy bridge to crypto assets and blockchain networks," said Visa chief product officer Jack Forestell. 

"We are thrilled to partner with the leader in digital payments, Visa, and leverage their crypto APIs to provide another channel for the Black community to access crypto as a new asset class that can help build Black wealth," Donald Hawkins, First Boulevard's CEO, said in a statement.

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Saniya More (pronounced: Saan-ya Mo-ray) is a quadrilingual journalist at The Block. She got her master’s degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and did her undergraduate degree at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University. Her work has appeared in CBS News, Bangkok Post, Thai Enquirer, Globalists, Byline Times and other publications. When she’s not chasing a story, you will most likely find her biking, tweeting, taking photos or creating Spotify playlists for every occasion.