Dan Romero, former vice president at leading crypto exchange Coinbase, confirms that the US-headquartered trading platform has been able to move billions of dollars into Bitcoin (BTC) through the US automated clearinghouse (ACH) system, which is a large electronic fund transfer system that handles payments in the country.
Romero pointed out that while using the ACH system for Bitcoin transactions may be convenient, it’s reversible and thus “fraud-prone.” He notes that Coinbase has been able to use ACH “in large part because of what Plaid provides.” He adds that this is the “underrated part of the crypto adoption story in the US.”
Plaid acquired by Visa
Zach Peret, co-founder and CEO at Plaid, revealed on January 13 that the company had been acquired by giant payment firm Visa. Plaid provides firms the tools and access needed to build a digitally-enabled financial system.
Based in San Francisco, California, Plaid is a technology platform designed to make it easier and safer for startups and large financial institutions to develop innovative financial services and applications.
Perret remarked:
“Today marks an important milestone for our company and for Fintech. What started with two founders building in a cramped conference room has become an incredible network that enables millions of consumers to interact with over 2,500 digital finance products.”
“Nobody had heard of Fintech” when Plaid was first launched
He adds that when Plaid was first launched, “nobody had heard of Fintech,” or financial technology. Today, the Fintech ecosystem has become significantly larger than what it was just a few years ago, Peret reveals. This has “significantly improved the way that consumers live their financial lives,” he argues.
He goes on to mention that consumers now depend on convenient Fintech services to pay utility bills, send funds to their friends, help them save, manage educational loans, and create budgets to achieve their financial goals.
Perret said:
“Joining forces with Visa, a brand that is trusted by billions of consumers, and financial institutions in over 200 countries and territories, represents an incredible opportunity to continue to scale our products.”
Plaid aims to leverage the Visa brand, company resources, and international presence to better serve its clients and business partners, Perret adds.
He also notes that Plaid’s management was quite impressed by the Visa team because both companies share the same vision when it comes to developing the future of financial services. Perret confirms that Visa wants Plaid to function as an independent business so they can continue to focus on what they’re already doing so well.
