Visa introduced rules for digital currency and NFT merchants in 2023, which have been taking effect throughout 2024, with further changes becoming effective in 2025. These include:
Pre-purchase disclosure requirements on payment pages, post-purchase records, and receipts
If you’re a digital currency or NFT merchant, you must now include the following on your payment pages:
- A description of what the cardholder is buying or acquiring. For non-government-issued currency (non-fiat currency), this is the type of currency/coin, and for an NFT, a description of the NFT.
- The item’s total cost, including all fees, charges, taxes, and other costs shown in the fiat currency the cardholder pays you.
- The destination wallet address that you use to deliver the non-fiat currency/coin or NFT.
- A statement that the item’s value may fluctuate or be volatile.
- Any restricted return, refund, or cancellation policy, if applicable
Dispute rights for cardholders for digital currency and NFT purchases, and the ability for digital currency and NFT merchants to defend against certain disputes
Cardholders can now dispute a digital currency or NFT transaction if the coin, currency, or NFT wasn’t delivered to the right destination or didn’t match the description at the time of the transaction.
There is no dispute right if cardholders can’t use or access the coin/NFT after successful delivery, or for buyer’s remorse if the coin/NFT has devalued, unless you or an affiliate guaranteed a specific return.
You have new rights that you can use to contest some disputes by:
- Showing that the destination wallet address matches the one provided on your payment pages and transaction receipt
- Providing the blockchain transaction hash (this must be searchable/traceable on an open-source website)
- Showing evidence of similar transactions that were previously approved using the same cardholder account number
Checkout.com has released an updated dispute representment form where you can upload the relevant defense information for digital goods and NFT transactions.
New optional transaction indicators to distinguish CDBCs, stablecoins, and blockchain-native tokens or coins
From April 12, 2025, Visa is adding new optional cryptocurrency indicators to better distinguish types of digital currency transactions:
- CBDC or tokenized deposit
- Stablecoin (fiat-backed)
- Blockchain native token or coin
To use these indicators, contact your Account Manager.
Launch of the Visa Ramp Provider program
Visa launched the Ramp Provider program for third-parties that use Visa payment services to convert transactions from a fiat currency to a non-fiat currency (for example: cryptocurrencies), or vice versa. Ramp Providers can sell non-fiat currency directly to cardholders or provide services under contract to conversion affiliates.
If you process these use cases, Checkout.com will need to register you as a Ramp Provider with Visa, under their High Integrity Risk program.
If you use affiliates, they may also need to register as High Integrity Risk merchants (For example, if the affiliate conducts online gambling).
However, Visa recently updated their definition of conversion affiliates to exclude decentralized applications such as self-custodial wallets.