VISA files patent for a digital currency with the intent to remove physical cash
Usually takes several months to a year for patents to be processed, but a pending patent is usually enough to carry on with what you're doing.
Is it commonplace for new companies to get patents on their new crypto?
In most cases no, almost all cryptocurrencies by a landslide are on the Ethereum blockchain making their coin an erc-20 token.
The different blockchains are borrowed from Bitcoin, while Bitcoin's blockchain is said have been inspired by, or evolved from the BitTorrent network.
It looks as though VISA wants to patent a centralized blockchain or rather the software running on it and how it works.
Last I looked Alibaba had 44-45 blockchain patents. It's not always about crypto.