Visa, the global payments technology company, is ramping up its crypto ambitions by advertising a Web3 developer job. The job ad suggests that Visa is seeking to explore decentralized finance (DeFi) and blockchain technology. It’s a significant move from Visa, which has previously shown a cautious approach to cryptocurrencies. With this job opening, Visa is signaling its intention to tap into the growing DeFi sector and potentially integrate cryptocurrencies into its payments network. This move marks a major milestone for the crypto industry, as it indicates that mainstream financial players are starting to show serious interest in cryptocurrencies and the underlying blockchain technology.
Visa, one of the world’s largest payment organizations, has announced plans to enhance its Web3 presence by hiring a senior software developer for its crypto team. The company is looking for experienced software engineers who are passionate about the Web3 stack of technologies. Web3 is built on blockchains and can give users more control of their data. Visa has been focusing on building products for this space for some time.
Visa says it is building the next generation of products to facilitate commerce in everyone’s digital and mobile lives, with a focus on building intuitive features that expose profound new value for its customers. The job listing, for a London-based engineer, asks for someone who can understand the new Ethereum enhancements and specifically mentions ERC-4337, a standard for releasing tokens on the blockchain. Ethereum is the blockchain behind the second biggest cryptocurrency, ETH. Visa has been considering collaborating with the Ethereum network on automatic payments and released a paper on this topic last year.
Visa also asks for someone who is familiar with security protocols and private key custody, indicating that the company is taking security seriously. Although Visa had to pull back on its crypto activity after FTX went bust in November, Visa has not slowed down on its crypto plans. In February, Visa said that fiat-backed digital currencies running on public blockchains have the potential to play an important role in the payments ecosystem, despite the challenges and uncertainty in the crypto ecosystem.
The company has also filed new trademark applications that hint at potential plans for a crypto wallet and a metaverse product. However, a Visa spokesperson told Decrypt in February that the recent high-profile failures in the crypto sector are an important reminder that there is still a long way to go before crypto becomes a part of mainstream payments and financial services.
With Visa’s move towards Web3 and its continued interest in the crypto space, it is clear that the company is serious about exploring the potential of blockchain technology to revolutionize the payments industry.