Visa Tokenized Asset Platform (VTAP) is a product that is designed to help banking service providers issue fiat-backed tokens.
BBVA will reportedly be using VTAP in order to create digital tokens on the public Ethereum (ETH) blockchain with expected live pilots in 2025.
Visa (NYSE: V), a global enabler of digital payments, is helping to bridge fiat currencies with blockchains via the Visa Tokenized Asset Platform (VTAP), which will aim to help financial institutions issue and manage fiat-backed tokens on blockchain networks.
As noted in the update, the VTAP solution is available via the Visa Developer Platform for participating financial institution partners, in order to create and experiment with their own fiat-backed tokens in a VTAP sandbox.
Visa has a global network of over 15,000 financial institutions and helps facilitate seamless transactions of fiat currencies across more than 200 countries and territories.
Visa is applying its expertise in technologies, like smart contracts, to enable banks to issue and transfer fiat-backed tokens over blockchain networks.
Vanessa Colella, Global Head of Innovation and Digital Partnerships, Visa said that Visa has been at the forefront of digital payments for nearly sixty years, and with the introduction of VTAP, we are once again setting the pace for the industry.
Vanessa added that they are now eager to be leveraging their extensiv eexperience with tokenization to help banks integrate blockchain technologies into their operations.
Benefits of VTAP are as follows:
- VTAP is a solution developed by Visa’s in-house blockchain experts. The platform is a b2b solution designed to enable banks to bring fiat currencies onchain in a safe, seamless, and efficient manner. Key benefits include:
- Easy integration: VTAP provides a platform for banks to mint, burn and transfer fiat-backed tokens, such as tokenized deposits and stablecoins, and experiment with use cases. This is available in a test environment with plans to support live programs in 2025 and when participating banks are ready to launch with end customers.
- Programmability: VTAP is designed to enable banks to use their fiat-backed tokens within smart contracts. This could help digitize and automate existing workflows and power the future exchange of new types of real-world assets.
- Interoperability: There is a growing ecosystem where tokenized real-world assets are being issued across multiple permissioned and public blockchain networks. Visa’s vision is to enable interoperability across different blockchains for banks utilizing the VTAP platform.
BBVA explains that it been working in the VTAP sandbox throughout this year and has been testing core VTAP sandbox functionalities including the issuance, transfer and redemption of a bank token on a testnet blockchain, as well as interactions of the token with smart contracts with the goal of launching an initial live pilot.
Visa is committed to working with financial institutions and fintechs to develop standards and capabilities which enable the growth of these payment flows in a compliant manner.