Visa Hints At The Possibility Of Making Auto-Payments On Ethereum Soon

Visa, the American multinational financial services corporation, hinted at the possibility of becoming more involved in the crypto space based on the technical paper it released on Monday. It highlighted how it could collaborate with the Ethereum network one day and allow auto payments.

Cryptocurrency users could one day automatically pay utilities like telephone and electric bills using self-custodial wallets, according to Visa.

In a blog post released Monday, the American payments giant toyed with the possibility of automatically pulling funds from Ethereum-powered crypto wallets without the need for the user to manually sign each transaction.

This functionality is not yet available on the Ethereum mainnet, but would be possible with the proposal dubbed "Account Abstraction."

This particular Ethereum proposal would allow users' accounts to function like smart contracts and have pre-approved payments or pre-scheduled execution functions.

"Online bill pay is growing rapidly, and customers—especially younger ones—have come to expect the ability to set up recurring payments and take advantage of other conveniences associated with using their Visa cards," Visa said in the technical paper, although it later revealed that the reason behind this revolutionary feature is the ease of payment.

The proposal is still an idea and it remains to be seen what the American payments giant will create.

Visa said, "because [an auto payment contract] is a smart contract, a user can be confident that [it] cannot execute in a way other than how it is written."

Ethereum has continued to be on the top list of entities with the ability to provide the simplest and major use cases of a blockchain, which is the ability to transfer assets.

In a January 2022 report by Josh Stark of the Ethereum Foundation, the network has moved $11.6 trillion, which single-handedly beat the payments giant Visa, which only managed to move around $10.4 trillion over the same period.

"Since surpassing Bitcoin in mid-2020, Ethereum continues to be the blockchain that settles the greatest flow of assets around the world," the blog read.

"This year Ethereum moved approximately $11.6 trillion USD. That is more than Visa, and more than double Bitcoin," it added.

It is worth noting that this report was released before the historic Ethereum "Merge," which transitioned the network from proof of work to proof of stake.

Visa is well-aware of the fact that Ethereum beat it in this area and perhaps instead of creating its network, the payments giant would rather apply the worn-out adage that says, "if you can beat them, join them."