Visa has launched the Visa Tokenized Asset Platform (VTAP) to aid banks in issuing and testing fiat-backed tokens. The platform’s goal is to set worldwide guidelines for financial institutions researching blockchain technology. Cuy Sheffield, Visa’s crypto head, highlighted that this initiative opens significant opportunities for banks to create their own regulated fiat-backed tokens, allowing customers to engage with on-chain capital markets.
Visa’s involvement in central bank digital currency (CBDC) initiatives includes partnerships with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and Brazil’s central bank. In the Brazilian pilot, named Drex, Visa collaborates with XP, one of Brazil’s largest independent brokers.
Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) in Spain has been testing the VTAP’s sandbox this year on a test blockchain. With plans to pilot on the Ethereum blockchain in 2025, VTAP aims to support various use cases, including real-time money transfers between bank clients, interbank transfers using wholesale CBDCs, and cross-border transactions for multinational companies.
Catherine Gu, Visa’s head of CBDC and tokenized assets, highlighted the present limits of conventional payment rails for global organizations that require 24/7 money mobility. Visa is developing guidelines to improve interoperability across financial institutions in the tokenization arena, addressing the problems created by fragmentation in tokenized asset transfers between countries. Swift, a worldwide payments provider, recently launched a platform to enhance the usage of real-world assets (RWAs).
Unlike Visa’s focus on tokenization, Swift’s program aims to create a global system that promotes interoperability among different central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). It will use a Delivery-versus-Payment (DvP) and Payment-versus-Payment (PvP) model to facilitate these transactions.
