Predictions made more than a decade ago about the close relationship between Bitcoin startups and traditional payments companies are increasingly resembling the payments market of 2026.
Former Electronic Trading Association CEO Jason Oxman spoke about the possibility in an August 2014 interview with CoinDesk. His comments came as BitPay became the first digital currency company to join the payments industry group. Oxman said the association remains open to new payment technologies without formally endorsing Bitcoin over other systems.
Early Bitcoin partnership signaled broader changes
Oxman argued that payment companies will ultimately respond to how consumers and merchants choose to transact. He said the industry is “committed to facilitating electronic transactions” regardless of which technology payments are made.
This comment came in the early stages of Bitcoin’s commercial adoption, when regulators were still debating New York State’s BitLicense proposal. Oxman also acknowledged that consumer protection remains a legitimate concern, but warned regulators not to apply rules just because the technology is new.
ETA’s leadership has since changed. Jodie Kelly became CEO of the organization in 2019, and ETA now runs a digital asset specialist committee alongside other payments industry groups.
Visa and Mastercard forge direct cryptocurrency partnership
The types of partnerships Oxman discussed are now common across the payments industry. In March, Visa and Stripe-owned Bridge announced plans to expand the stablecoin-linked Visa card to more than 100 countries by the end of 2026. As reported by crypto.news, the card will allow users to use their stablecoin balances across Visa’s merchant network.
Visa also expanded its stablecoin payments pilot to nine blockchains. In April, the company announced that the program had reached $7 billion in annual settlements. Visa said this expansion will give payment partners more choice when choosing a blockchain network.
Mastercard followed a similar path. The company’s crypto partner program brings together over 100 cryptocurrency companies, financial institutions, and payment providers. As reported by crypto.news, Alchemy Pay joined the initiative in May to explore the closer relationship between fiat payments and on-chain commerce.
Stablecoins are currently driving much of the payments expansion
The industry focus is also shifting from Bitcoin alone to stablecoins. Visa, Mastercard, and Coinbase recently joined over 140 companies supporting Open Standard, the group developing the Open USD stablecoin.
As reported by crypto.news, the project plans to build a payments infrastructure for businesses using digital assets linked to the dollar. The move puts major card networks directly on par with crypto-native companies in developing blockchain payment systems.
BitPay also continues to expand. Crypto.news recently reported that the payments company has secured MiCA authorization in the Netherlands, allowing it to offer regulated cryptocurrency and stablecoin services across eligible European Union markets.
More than a decade after Oxman predicted expanded cooperation, partnerships between traditional payment networks and cryptocurrency companies have moved from solo experiments to cards, payment systems, stablecoins, and cross-border payments.
