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To effectively service markets where speed of payment is critical, such as online gaming and cryptocurrency, Paysafe Ltd. announced Tuesday it is integrating Visa Direct in its platform. Paysafe will offer Visa Direct, Visa Inc.’s real-time push-payment network, to merchants, exchanges, operators, and other online businesses in the United Kingdom and Europe.
Merchants will be able to access Visa Direct through a single point of connection to enable push payments to eligible Visa cards for domestic payouts and to eligible Visa cards and accounts for cross-border payments.
The move is being driven by demand, especially among cryptocurrency exchanges in the Asia Pacific region, as well as in the United States and Canada, that want to start doing business in Europe, says Justin Fraser, senior vice president, enterprise sales Europe and Latin America, for Paysafe Group.
Visa Direct handles cryptocurrency transactions as fiat currency, which reduces the volatility of cryptocurrency. Once a cryptocurrency trade is completed, funds are converted into a fiat currency, such as dollars, and moved onto a Visa card.
“Through this collaboration with Paysafe, we’re excited to bring a more streamlined customer journey and real-time transfer capabilities to more businesses in the U.K. and Europe,” says Nicky Alexander, head of Visa Direct, Europe, in a prepared statement.
Paysafe, which plans to make the same service available in North America and the United States, is initially launching Visa Direct in the U.K. and Europe because it is a registered acquirer with Visa for those geographies, which makes rollout smoother, Fraser says. “In North America and the U.S., we have sponsored banking relationships, so offering Visa Direct is a bit more complicated, but we do plan to make it available in those markets.”
For merchants, the payoff from being able to use Visa Direct for real-time payments is that it will enable them to gain tighter control of their cash flow by reducing the ambiguity around funds. “Visa Direct is a debit payment so merchants can see the funds in their account [in real time], which helps them manage their account in more detail,” says Fraser.
Going forward, Fraser says that the addition of Visa Direct will make Paysafe’s platform more attractive to cryptocurrency exchanges because it represents a secure, safe, and branded payment option that will also benefit Paysafe as it expands into new markets.
