Since around 2017, Crypto and Bitcoin have become  common household words. Thrown around as investing jokes your uncle made or more commonly as a criminal reference on TV shows like the Blacklist, they no longer need an introduction.

These days in 2021, it seems almost silly to have not bought crypto three years ago or even before that. The jokes now go like, “Go back in time and tell yourself to purchase Bitcoin in 2009. You’ll thank me later!”

If that is so, then why are we not receiving paychecks in Bitcoin yet? Why are we not able to buy a steak dinner at a normal restaurant by using our Coinbase app? Well, that might be just around the corner with Visa.

Using Crypto Daily

If you do not know, VISA has been heavily investing in not only researching crypto but in gearing up to use it. Since December 2020, VISA partnered with none other than USDC, a stable coin on the Ethereum blockchain.

What is a stablecoin?

Well, it is a virtual currency that is pegged to something. Typically, it is pegged to the dollar to retain a consistent value. We won’t worry about HOW that is possible in this post, but we should be able to accept that 1 stable coin is usually worth 1 dollar.

Why is that important for VISA?

VISA needs to partner with a stable coin in order to feasibly provide payments with crypto. If VISA accepts Bitcoin for lots and lots of transactions, it needs a way to convert and store that value without losing any of it in the daily price swings.

It can do so by trading and holding USDC with smart contracts. If you do not know, it is much easier to convert a crypto to another crypto then into a fiat based currency or even credit of any kind.

Crypto lives and breathes on the blockchain, and can easily be converted, exchanged or traded for other coins through plenty of ways. Almost all of these ways are cheaper going crypto to crypto versus crypto to fiat. Once you start converting from crypto to fiat, you can encounter a slew of regulatory and physical limitations.

Therefore, VISA will need to be very familiar and comfortable with USDC. But, they need more than just that. They need the data of all USDC transactions to be able to fully map out the blockchain underneath it and track all of the transactions. That is where The Graph or GRT comes in.

VISA And The Graph

Now, I am not going to begin to act like I fully understand The Graph and its purpose for USDC. What I do know is that the project received an enormous amount of hype leading towards its launch.

This includes being listed on both Binance AND Coinbase in addition to Coinbase earn. From my 30 minutes of research (obviously an expert by now duh) The Graph is basically an indexing protocol.

What this means is that The Graph goes through and not only indexes all of the available data for a blockchain like USDC, but also categorizes it and makes it easily accessible for developers and smart contracts. Here is a fun reddit post if you want to learn more.

How is this different from an oracle you might ask? That was my first thought at least.

To my understanding, an oracle is a protocol used to authenticate data loaded onto the blockchain that can be used in smart contracts. Take for example the winner of last nights horse race. An oracle would be able to provide the winner with a very high degree of certainty. (like 99.99999%)

The Graph on the other hand, takes the already existing data, or uploaded data, and indexes and categorizes it for it to be used on a larger scale. This is extremely important for a payment processing company like VISA that needs access to all of the data in a reasonable fashion. 

Other Crypto Payment Options

We are not fully sure when VISA will start to adopt crypto into their mainstream payments, but there is set to be a large announcement related to The Graph and VISA at an event in New York near the end of September. 

If you can’t wait for VISA to create a solution for your daily crypto payment needs, then there are other options.

Coinbase has rolled out their crypto debit card that can be used practically anywhere a normal VISA card can be used. It even has cash back rewards that can be paid out in BTC, ETH, and a few other options including GRT!

Other crypto vaults or interest accounts like BlockFi will also be rolling out their own cards for daily payments in the near future. This card will also offer some cash back rewards for you to earn!

What about paychecks though? Well, some companies are actually looking into this and starting to offer this too as an option. While it might not be considered “common” yet, my hunch is that in 2022, this will start to become more of a reality to save on ACH transactions at scale for some of those big companies looking to pay thousands and thousands of employees while also paying for services.

Using Crypto

Thanks for reading our post on using crypto and how the mass market may soon come face to face with it! If you enjoyed this post, please share or subscribe to help support The Tribe! 

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