Visa and Mastercard have issued individual statements in support of cryptocurrencies in the financial services industry.

In its blog post titled “Advancing our approach to digital currency”, Visa said it believes “digital currencies have the potential” to improve the value of digital payments.

The company added: “As such, we want to help shape and support the role they play in the future of money.

“We look forward to sharing more with you on this work in the months that follow.”

The payments giant is currently working with cryptocurrency firms like Coinbase and has investments in digital assets custody business Anchorage.

Visa’s research team has been “exploring the science of blockchain technology” for many years.

On the other hand, Mastercard also said that it is supporting blockchain technology and cryptocurrency in the financial services industry.

The company introduced a new programme to increase its partner base for crypto payment cards.

According to Livemint, both Visa and Mastercard have registered patents in blockchain technology. Mastercard has 80 patents while Visa has 24.

Both the companies will most likely work with existing crypto coins like stablecoins, which are backed by reserve assets to keep them from being volatile, like Bitcoin.

Visa and Mastercard were the original partners for social media giant Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency project.

They have pulled out from this project; however, they have not abandoned cryptocurrencies.