Visa Partners With IBM to Launch Blockchain-Based Digital Identity System

Visa announced Sunday that it is readying a blockchain-based digital identity system.

In partnership with IBM for use with B2B Connect, its international payment service.

"B2B Connect. will facilitate payments for financial institutions for a variety of industry verticals, including supply chain, trade, institutional banking and more."

How Visa Will Use the BlockchainAccording to Visa, their digital identity feature will take sensitive banking information like account details and numbers and "Tokenize" them, assigning them a unique identifier to be used for transactions on B2B Connect.

"B2B Connect's digital identity greatly reduces the opportunity for fraud that might otherwise exist with checks, ACH and wire transfers today, while also helping companies remain compliant as part of the regulated financial ecosystem."

Some banks that have signed on to work with Visa's B2B Connect system since it was previewed in 2017 include Commerce Bank in the U.S., Shinhan Bank in South Korea, and United Overseas Bank in Singapore.

Visa says it has begun using its network for bank-to-bank transactions between their partners and hopes to add more soon.

Card Companies Still Wary of CryptoAlongside its apparent adoption of blockchain technology, Visa is still being very careful with digital assets as a whole.

MasterCard has already implemented the changes, while Visa is waiting until December.

Visa plans to commercially launch B2B Connect in Q1 of 2019.Cover Photo by Ben Sweet on Unsplash.