Episode Six, the leading global payments and banking infrastructure provider, and Immersve, a multichain payments protocol and Scheme card issuer, have announced a partnership to facilitate Scheme payments directly from Web3 digital wallets.

This partnership brings together Episode Six’s globally distributed issuer processing expertise and Immersve’s blockchain technology to give consumers access to a truly decentralized scheme payment product.

Episode Six provides card management and card issuance services as well as transaction processing, which will confirm transactions against a blockchain-based ledger. That will include settling payments with USDC Stablecoin.

“Our technology provides a bridge between blockchain and digital assets and the current financial system,” said John Mitchell, CEO and Co-Founder of Episode Six. “We can accommodate any unit of value on our platform, including traditional and digital currencies, loyalty or reward points. Now,  consumers will be able to pay for goods and services directly from their crypto wallets in real-time.”

This partnership – Episode Six’s first in New Zealand – offers a next-generation way to pay, earn and transfer both digital and traditional assets and marks an important step in the development of infrastructure to support Web3 and the metaverse.

Just as scheme payment card functionality was critical for the early growth of e-commerce sales – which now represent about 20% of all retail transactions globally – the interoperability of assets will be a cornerstone of commerce in the next generation of the internet. The world’s most decentralised scheme payment card brings the best of Web3 technology and values, especially decentralization and community engagement, to everyday payment experiences.

Episode Six and Immersve’s liquidity-from-any-asset capability aims to solve the interoperability problems facing legacy platforms as they look to harness the potential of the web3. The integration of commerce, payments and earning potential in Web3 worlds poses a steep challenge to the payment and settlement systems that were designed for the physical world. Simply migrating between national currencies can still present a layer of difficulty for merchants and banks but introducing USDC-settled and blockchain-based accounts into the mix, adds an entirely new realm of assets and value to the equation.

According to research from IDC, 60% of global consumers will have made transactions using an asset class other than fiat currency by 2030. The firm also estimates the volume of non-fiat transactions already edged past $2 billion as early as 2020; by 2030 that figure will likely exceed $166 billion. Secure payment rails for all of it will be needed and that’s where Episode Six, as the world’s only globally distributed issuer processor, enters the picture.

Jerome Faury, Co-Founder at Immersve says “We believe individuals should be the master of their money and be in complete control of their payment experience.  To enable this Immersve is building bridges and breaking silos, creating new types of financial freedom through digital trust.  We are developing visionary infrastructure that makes it possible for individuals to transact crypto directly from their web3 wallet for any purchase - be it digital, physical or the metaverse, where scheme payment cards are accepted.”

The potential for new forms of value creation in the metaverse will require new ways for banks, businesses and individuals to bridge the current gaps between payment systems and asset classes. The Episode Six and Immersve partnership is an example of how that becomes possible.

For Episode Six the partnership represents an out-of-the-box solution that makes payments and transfers both possible and seamless in the coming Web3 future.