Today FIS announced that Worldpay is partnering with cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com to operate a validator node on its blockchain Crypto.org. The crypto exchange will also use Worldpay to process card-based purchases and sales of digital assets.
“Interest in cryptocurrencies has never been greater, and it is now more important than ever to make these new technologies more accessible to more people,” said Nabil Manji, Head of Crypto and Emerging Business, Worldpay from FIS.
FIS says it is the card-to-crypto processor for four of the five top cryptocurrency exchanges. In May last year, it partnered with Bitcoin asset manager NYDIG to enable smaller U.S. banks to offer their account holders access to Bitcoin.
While PayPal, Visa and Mastercard have grabbed the payments headlines around blockchain and crypto in the last few years, perhaps FIS has been involved longer and across a diverse array of initiatives. It operates nodes on at least two public DLT networks, Hedera Hashgraph and South Korea’s Klaytn, both of which are permissioned.
It was also an early backer of Polish startup Billon, which has an e-money license and has been involved in payment initiatives with Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank. When Visa wanted to roll out its blockchain-based B2B payments platform Visa B2B Connect, it partnered with FIS.
Meanwhile, Crypto.com has more than ten million customers and has become a major sports sponsor. It bought the naming rights for the LA’s Staples Center amongst several other sports initiatives. Crypto Pay uses the Crypto.org blockchain to execute payments. Its blockchain uses proof of stake and is based on Cosmos Tendermint technology.
