Author: André Beganski, Decrypt; Translation: Song Xue, LianGuai
Visa’s blockchain lead, Cuy Sheffield, wrote in a blog post on Wednesday that despite its flaws and issues, blockchain technology is similar to the early days of the internet, evolving from obscurity to ubiquity.
“We see tremendous potential in blockchain networks,” he wrote on behalf of the financial services giant. “Today’s blockchain has some similarities to the early internet, especially the skeptics, questioners, and critics.”
Cuy Sheffield believes that blockchain technology, in terms of its efficiency, related costs, and usability, may mature in the next decade. While LianGuai and BlackRock are recent examples of large companies delving into the cryptocurrency field, Sheffield’s post captures the emerging tone of stable financial companies like Visa.
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He wrote that in the future, he expects Visa’s payment network to involve not only “multiple currencies and banking settlement rails, but also multiple blockchain networks, stablecoins, and CBDCs or tokenized deposits”.
Sheffield’s post highlights Visa’s recent work in providing more “modern options” for customers to send or receive funds using stablecoin USDC and Solana. It also emphasizes the potential of blockchain in improving settlement efficiency and facilitating cross-border transactions.
For those who have never heard the synthesized sound of the early internet, Sheffield points out that internet technology has made significant progress since the dial-up era, and user experience has evolved from being “slow and unreliable” to a ubiquitous force.
“Critics mock this emerging network as just another emerging tech project without a real future, and this view is not uncommon.” the Visa executive wrote. “That perspective has matured.”
Although not mentioned in Sheffield’s post, Nobel laureate in economics, Paul Krugman, infamously claimed in 1998 that “by 2005 or so, it will become clear that the impact of the internet on the economy has been no greater than the fax machine.”
In 2013, Krugman likened Bitcoin transactions to “passing around a paper bag filled with $100 bills in a dark alley” and argued that innovations in the dollar realm should be left alone.
Last week, Krugman referred to “crypto worship” as a principle in public policy debates, often attracting “tech bros” with wealth. He attributed people’s interest in cryptocurrencies to those who “might think they understand money better than economists.”
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