Important breaking news: it appears that payments giant Visa is intent on hiring more crypto developers to promote mainstream adoption.
Specifically, its search is geared toward industry experts in public blockchain and stablecoin payments. Full details below.
Summary
Visa will hire crypto experts for mainstream adoption of technologies and beyond
As anticipated above, payments giant Visa is looking to add back-end developers to its crypto team, specifically public blockchain and stablecoin crypto experts.
Cuy Sheffield, vice president of Visa, said the new roles the company wants to hire would help drive mainstream adoption of the technologies, as noted on Twitter:
Thus, the Visa is specifically looking for people who have worked with cutting-edge artificial intelligence-assisted engineering tools, such as Github Copilot, to develop and debug smart contracts.
In addition, the job announcement separately states that Visa is looking for engineers who are “passionate about the Web3 technology stack.” The experience expected for hiring purposes includes testing frameworks such as Truffle, Mocha, and Hardhat.
Logically, Visa prefers candidates who have a good understanding of Layer-1 and Layer-2 solutions, as well as a working knowledge of writing smart contracts using Solidity, Ethereum‘s programming language.
Finally, Visa also requires knowledge of public and permissioned distributed ledger technology, security protocols, and the new Ethereum account standard, ERC-4337.Â
Despite slumps and uncertain market, Visa remains pro-crypto
As we know, in February Visa had denied reports claiming that the company would discontinue crypto activities after the collapse of high-profile companies across the ecosystem.
Specifically, Sheffield had stated on Twitter that the company would continue to work with the blockchain division to provide on-and-off fiat ramps and had also stated that his view on the potential of cryptocurrencies had not changed.
Furthermore, a Visa spokesperson at the time confirmed that the company was monitoring the industry and regulatory developments, saying it was committed to expanding offerings in the crypto space.
Not surprisingly, the company, which has always been crypto-friendly, established an advisory unit in late 2021 to help those interested in cryptocurrencies explore opportunities in the sector conscientiously.
In addition, rival Mastercard had made it clear months ago that it intended to adopt cryptocurrency on its payment network, starting with stablecoins. Thus, Visa recently also explored converting digital assets into fiat payments, similar to its existing currency conversion services.Â
Finally, we know that Sheffield revealed at the StarkWare Sessions 2023 event in Tel Aviv that Visa has been testing settlement payments in the USDC stablecoin on Ethereum. Hence, contrary to the expectations of many and market uncertainties, Visa remains very loyal and confident about the future of crypto.Â
Difference between public and private blockchains
As we have seen, in its announcement to search for new crypto experts, Visa also requires knowledge of public and authorized distributed ledger technology. But what does this mean? And how are these two types of blockchain distinct?
We see that blockchains defined as “permissionless,” or more simply public, are those that do not require any authorization to access the network, perform transactions or participate in the verification and creation of a new block.
The Bitcoin and Ethereum blockchains are certainly the two most famous examples: there are no restrictions or conditions on access and anyone can take part.Â
Hence, these are two totally decentralized structures, in that there is no central entity that manages access permissions, which are shared among all nodes equally.
This means that no user on the network has privileges over the others, just as no one can control the information that is stored on it, modify or delete it, or alter the protocol that determines how the technology works.
On the other hand, authorized, also referred to as “permissioned,” blockchains are subject to a central authority that determines who can access them.
In addition to defining who is authorized to be part of the network, this authority defines what roles a user can play within it, and also establishes rules on the visibility of recorded data.
Authorized blockchains thus introduce the concept of governance and centralization into networks that began as decentralized and distributed.
These blockchains, rather than allowing any person with an Internet connection to participate in the verification of the transaction process, entrust the task to a select few nodes deemed trustworthy.