Visa has introduced the Visa Tokenized Asset Platform (VTAP), a tool designed to help financial institutions issue fiat-backed tokens on blockchain networks. Launched on October 3, 2024, VTAP is accessible via Visa’s development platform, allowing banks to experiment with creating and transferring fiat-backed tokens in a sandbox environment. Leveraging Visa’s extensive experience with digital payments and tokenization, this platform offers a pathway for banks to integrate blockchain technology into their services.
Spanish bank BBVA has already tested VTAP’s capabilities, including issuing and transferring bank tokens on a testnet blockchain and interacting with smart contracts. BBVA plans to pilot a live project with select customers on the Ethereum blockchain next year.
VTAP is designed for ease of integration, programmability, and interoperability, enabling banks to issue tokenized real-world assets across various blockchain networks. Visa’s broader goal is to support cross-chain exchanges of these tokenized assets, enhancing the growing ecosystem of blockchain-based financial services.
This development aligns with broader trends in blockchain’s application for cross-border payments, which benefit from reduced intermediaries, faster transaction times, and lower costs, as highlighted by Sheraz Shere of the Solana Foundation.
Source: pymnts.com
