Today in Crypto: Visa Seeks Undergrads to Join Crypto Development Program; Oppenheimer Says Coinbase Stock is Undervalued

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Visa has been inviting undergraduate students to apply for a Crypto Development Program, Coindesk reported.

This comes as the company is looking to build out its internal crypto talent.

The Crypto Development Program will be an 18-month rotational development experience that will allow for the building of a “fully fluent” cryptocurrency team.

Those hired in the program will rotate on teams like “Crypto Product, Crypto Solutions and Digital Partnerships.” And they’ll be tasked with building expertise in areas like decentralized finance, NFTs, stablecoins and CBDCs.

Last year Visa debuted a global crypto advisory practice with the aim to help financial institutions build up crypto businesses, with the burgeoning interest still growing in the digital assets.

Meanwhile, Coinbase has “hidden value” in its Coinbase Ventures unit which investors haven’t appreciated fully, according to a report from Coindesk.

According to equity research analyst Owen Lau of Oppenheimer, the Coinbase Ventures investments aren’t contributing financially right now, but are “strategically important” because they support the broader crypto ecosystem and add insight for new technologies.

In Oppenheimer’s estimation, the fair value of Coinbase’s Venture portfolio is $6.6 billion. Coinbase had invested in more than 250 companies through the fourth quarter of 2021.

Lau wrote that Oppenheimer’s sensitivity analysis showed “that the market value could go as high as $17.0B, assuming a 13% ownership stake.”

“Given the continuous capital influx to blockchain/digital assets, there is potential upside to our estimate,” he wrote.

Also, Binance has signed a memorandum of understanding to buy Brazilian securities firm Sim;paul Investimentos, Bloomberg reported Monday (March 14).

Sim;paul is a traditional brokerage firm authorized by the Central Bank of Brazil and the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission, according to Binance.

Binance is the biggest crypto exchange in the world by volume and has been looking into buying companies working in traditional markets.

Changpeng Zhao, Binance CEO, said the strategy “is about making the crypto industry bigger.”