Visa’s latest venture into the Web3 space, incorporating gamified giveaways and immersive treasure hunts, is named the “Visa Web3 Loyalty Engagement Solution.”
Payments giant Visa is drilling deeper into the Web3 sector with a new initiative that it has announced in the very first week of 2024. The US-headquartered company has announced a new Web3 loyalty service to assist brands experiment with Web3 elements like NFTs, metaverse, and cryptocurrencies. Visa is one of the world’s largest fintech companies to have kept a rather welcoming approach towards the crypto sector, despite regulatory challenges crippling the industry on an international level.
Tailored specifically for brands that are customers of Visa, the name of this new initiative is — the Visa Web3 Loyalty Engagement Solution. Through this, the company will let brands create digital wallets for the storage of reward points on behalf of their customers.
Before launching this initiative, Visa conducted internal research, where it found that the next generation of customers for brands have heightened expectations about what they receive from loyalty programs — extending beyond traditional points-based benefits. More people are now looking to be rewarded for even engaging and interacting with brands, the study added.
“This is underscored by the fact that more than 77 percent of consumers worldwide value real-world experiences. With the new Visa solution, brands can engage customers by providing a digital wallet where they can apply rewards – such as perks and benefits – towards virtual, digital, or real-world experiences, in various sectors such as travel, sports and more,” Visa’s note added.
The fintech firm has collaborated with SmartMedia Technologies – which is an end-to-end Web2-to-Web3 platform — to bring this Web3 programme to life.
Kathleen Pierce-Gilmore, SVP and Global Head of Issuing Solutions at Visa, highlighted the potential of the “Visa Web3 Loyalty Engagement Solution,” stating, “Imagine earning a unique digital collectible, whether it’s from purchasing tickets for a sports event or participating in an augmented reality treasure hunt. Our new innovative digital loyalty solution empowers brands to reward customers not only for their transactions but for their active engagement.”
Visa has been actively incorporating Web3-friendly services in recent years. In December 2022, Visa introduced functionality enabling users to make telephone and electricity payments through self-custodial crypto wallets. Additionally, Visa launched a creator program in the same year to assist digital-age artists in understanding and utilizing NFTs. In January 2023, Al Kelly, the CEO of payments at Visa, expressed optimism about stablecoins and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) powered by blockchains, anticipating these technologies to revolutionize both everyday and large-scale payments.