Today, Visa officially announced the Visa Tokenized Asset Platform (VTAP), which supports stablecoins and tokenized deposits. Spanish bank BBVA plans to pilot an Ethereum token starting in 2025.
Visa highlighted the possibility of offering this service to its 15,000 bank network partners. “We are excited to leverage our experience in tokenization to help banks integrate blockchain technology into their operations,” said Vanessa Corella, Global Head of Innovation and Digital Partnerships at Visa. said.
Payment companies want to ease the process for banks by providing API integration as a single point of access to multiple blockchains, both permissioned and permissionless.
BBVA has already been testing the VTAP solution in the sandbox this year. This includes the basic functionality of issuance, transfer, and redemption. However, Spanish banks are particularly interested in the programmability achieved through smart contracts. Visa highlighted the potential to automate workflows and offer complex credit lines and the most obvious application, conditional payments.
BBVA’s Blockchain History
Francisco Maroto, Head of Blockchain and Digital Assets at BBVA, said: “This partnership marks an important milestone in exploring the potential of blockchain technology and will ultimately expand our banking services and create new “We will be able to expand our market with financial solutions.”
In 2018 and 2019, Spanish banks conducted a series of innovative and award-winning pilots for blockchain bond issuance. It was also one of the first banks, albeit in regulation-friendly Switzerland, to offer cryptocurrency services to retail customers.
Meanwhile, Visa conducted tokenized deposit tests with Hong Kong’s HSBC and Hang Seng Bank earlier this year as part of its e-HKD pilot.
