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Visa vs. Cryptocurrency: Which is better?

Worldwide many people make use of Visa cards. It makes Visa the most well-known payment card existing now. But with the fast rise in cryptocurrency’s popularity, decentralized currencies have become Visa’s competitors. So let us find out and visit here if Visa is better than Cryptocurrency.

Which one is eco-friendly?

  • Crypto can be very bad for our environment.
  • Many processes are involved in this industry. Mostly transactions and mining consume a lot of energy.
  • Bitcoin mining alone needs more electricity compared to that needed by entire countries like Argentina.
  • In March 2022 it was found that about 100,000 Visa transactions make use of 148.63 kWh of electricity.
  • But one transaction of Bitcoin makes use of 2258.49 kWh of electricity.
  • It was found in another study that an Ethereum transaction will be making use of electricity of 238.22 kWh.
  • It was much less than that of Bitcoin.
  • However, it is a huge amount in comparison to what was used in payments with Visa.
  • Thus there is a great difference in the requirement of energy for both Visa and crypto payments.
  • Visa is on the top when it comes to environmental sustainability.

Transaction speeds of Visa and Cryptocurrency

  • In today’s world, speed along with convenience is very important.
  • So it is necessary to have a method of payment that will never involve huge waiting times.
  • It takes almost 10 minutes now for a Bitcoin transaction to get processed.
  • The blockchain can process only 4.6 transactions each second.
  • But a payment made with Visa will take a few seconds.
  • The network will be processing more than 1700 transactions each second.
  • Thus with respect to convenience, Visa will top cryptocurrency.
  • Another vital element needed in processing services of payment is security.
  • Speed is never all that is offered by Visa.
  • Cryptocurrency is currently accepted in many businesses worldwide.
  • But the majority is now not taking payments in crypto.
  • So if any individual wishes to select cryptocurrency as their only method of payment using any payment processing app, you will be finding yourself to run into various limitations.
  • Again Visa is on the top as most of the businesses these days accept payments made through Visa.
  • Thus users can do anything they want with their Visa cards.

Security of Visa and Cryptocurrency

  • Advantages and disadvantages are offered by Visa and cryptocurrency payment methods when it comes to the protection offered by them to their users.
  • Crypto offers a very high security level over different payment methods.
  • It is challenging to hack blockchains and alter them because of their cryptographic and decentralized nature.
  • Moreover, crypto wallets or exchanges frequently have a huge focus on security. They offer a wide variety of excellent features such as cold fund storage, address whitelisting, and two-factor authentication.
  • But it will not be impossible for any hacker to steal crypto.
  • Many people became victims of these attackers.
  • Their seed phrases, private keys, and sensitive data were stolen. Thus their funds got transferred somewhere else without their permission.
  • These criminals have stolen a lot of cryptocurrency in the last few years and so.
  • As cryptocurrency is not yet recognized as any national tender by most governments globally, it is never protected legally in the same way as traditional currencies.
  • So if the cryptocurrency is stolen, no one will be capable of getting it back via legal investigation or prosecution.
  • Visa includes many security precautions for keeping customer funds safely such as online verification of payments and theft or fraud protection.
  • It is usually easier to hack any visa account compared to any cryptocurrency wallet.
  • You may not have similar legal rights during cryptocurrency theft as during theft of any legal tender, but crypto is on top in security terms.

Conclusion

How many cryptocurrency platforms are seen to offer their Visa cards. These can be used for paying with crypto. Currently, some famous exchanges such as Coinbase, Binance, and BlockFi are offering a Visa card for their users. Each of them has its perks. Visa and cryptocurrency both can offer various pros and cons for users. Visa is very environmentally sustainable and highly convenient for usage. Cryptocurrency has excellent security levels. But with the current merge of crypto and Visa for producing cryptocurrency payment cards, users can very easily spend cryptocurrency funds worldwide.