US Payment Giant Visa Seeks Crypto and Blockchain Talent for Tech Product Manager

American payment services firm Visa has published a crypto and blockchain-related job opening on San Francisco-based recruiting software firm SmartRecruiters on March 6.

Global financial services corporation Visa is seeking blockchain talent for the position of Technical Product Manager at Visa Fintech in their Palo Alto office. The person will be responsible for the execution of Visa’s product strategy within a cryptocurrency ecosystem, and will be required to manage the roadmap for crypto-related opportunities.

According to the job description, the person should be possess a functional knowledge of the crypto industry and major players involved, as well as in-depth knowledge of distributed ledger technology and a deep understanding of existing retail payment solutions. Familiarity with advanced cryptography will be preferred, the job description notes.

The individual will be working in close collaboration with the Visa Research team in order to develop new products to deliver value to Visa’s fintech initiative.

Last year, Visa CEO Al Kelly declared that cryptocurrencies do not pose a challenge to the company’s dominance in the payment sphere in the short- to medium-term. Kelly stated that crypto needs to move from being a commodity to really being a payment instrument before it can represent a real competitor to the traditional financial system.

In late 2018, Reuters reported that Visa is acquiring a partner of major cryptocurrency company Ripple, the entity which runs third biggest coin by market cap XRP. With the acquisition of Ripple’s international payments-focused firm Earthport, Visa reportedly intends to integrate Ripple’s protocol into the company’s existing payment network to boost cross-border transactions.

Recently, founder of crypto investment firm Morgan Creek Digital Assets suggested that major United States retailer Kroger should use the blockchain-enabled protocol Lightning Network as a payment system, following the brand’s decision to stop accepting Visa at some locations on March 1.