Visa (V) and blockchain-based stablecoin infrastructure company WeFi announced on Tuesday that they are collaborating to build the "last mile" to provide users with robust on-chain payments and banking services.
WeFi was co-founded by Reeve Collins, former founder of Tether, and in a press release, the company described its platform as "a coordination layer between decentralized finance (DeFi) and regulated payment infrastructure, designed to support use cases such as cross-border spending and on-chain value storage."
Corinth said in an interview: “We are upgrading our infrastructure to essentially provide people with bank accounts, as they will soon have their own IBAN numbers, and we are obtaining various licenses around the world to operate smoothly.”
Collins said that as the platform scales, the plan is to partner with more banks and institutions to serve people around the world who lack access to banking services.
The program will be rolled out region by region, initially launching in selected markets across Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Expansion to additional markets will depend on local regulatory approvals and partnerships with issuing institutions.
Collins said, "The partnership with Visa truly completes the last mile of on-chain banking infrastructure."
Mathieu Altwegg, Head of Products and Solutions for Visa in Europe, stated in a press release: "This partnership demonstrates how Visa’s global network can interact with on-chain models while operating within established regulatory frameworks and meeting the expectations of consumers and merchants for reliability."