The payment giant Visa announced its development of a new platform that facilitates financial institutions in issuing fiat-backed tokens on the blockchain. The company aims to guide banks in this domain while contributing to the establishment of global standards. Cuy Sheffield, Visa’s crypto president, emphasized the need for tokenization to facilitate the trading of various cash types as more real-world assets are migrated onto the blockchain.
Growing Interest from Banks in Fiat-Backed Tokens
Sheffield highlighted that banks issuing their fiat-backed tokens on the blockchain presents a significant opportunity for regulated participation in these markets. Visa has closely monitored the potential of tokenization for central banks and the modernization of financial infrastructure. For instance, the company conducted a pilot project last year with HSBC and Hang Seng Bank under the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s Digital Hong Kong Dollar program, simulating interbank payment and collection processes on the blockchain.
Visa was also selected to participate in the Brazilian Central Bank’s digital real trials. Sheffield noted that many commercial banks and Visa’s existing partners are increasingly interested in fiat-backed tokens and tokenized deposits. For example, the Spain-based Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) is working on issuing, transferring, and settling banking tokens within the Visa Tokenized Asset Platform (VTAP) sandbox, planning a pilot project with a limited customer group on the Ethereum 
$3,130 blockchain by 2025.
Applications and Future Plans
One of the primary applications for banks regarding tokenized fiat currencies is enabling instant money transfers among their clients. Permissioned payment networks and deposit ledgers, like the JPM Coin System, facilitate such transactions. Financial institution transfers are gaining traction, especially in markets where central banks are actively developing wholesale Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs).
Catherine Gu, Visa’s head of CBDCs and tokenized assets, mentioned that banks focus on cross-border transfers in the services they provide to their customers. She emphasized the limitations of existing systems in addressing multinational companies’ money transfer needs, prompting banks to reevaluate potential blockchain use cases. Tokenized real-world assets stand out as one of the highest demand areas for transactions.
Banks plan to develop products on both public and private blockchains based on their regulatory environments and use cases. Gu pointed out that fragmentation is the biggest challenge financial institutions face in entering this space, as current standards for tokenization and smart contracts are lacking. Visa intends to develop standards to enhance interoperability among financial institutions in this area.
