BBVA headed for 2025 token pilot with new Visa asset platform
Spanish banking giant BBVA is using Visa’s new platform to create tokens on the public Ethereum blockchain, with live pilots scheduled for 2025.
BBVA to pilot tokenised assets with Visa in 2025
Launched this month, the Visa tokenised asset platform (VTAP) is designed to “enable banks to bring fiat currencies onchain,” according to a company statement.
As one of the first banks to embrace the offering, which is available through the Visa developer platform, BBVA has previously collaborated with Visa to test core functionalities through the VTAP sandbox.
These functionalities include the issuance, transfer and redemption of a bank token on a testnet blockchain, as well as how the token interacts with smart contracts.
According to the bank’s statement, this activity is intended to lead to the launch of “an initial live pilot with select customers” in Europe next year, which is to be based on the public Ethereum blockchain.
The exact timeline of proceedings has not been disclosed.
The bank previously partnered with Spanish insurer Mapfre in 2019 to issue the first structured green bond based on smart contracts.
This led to the bank joining hands with BME and the Interamerican Development Bank (IDB) to complete the first bond issuance in Spain in 2022, using blockchain technology developed by ioBuilders.
For this second bond project, BBVA says it has introduced dollar tokenisation to execute settlements on the network “throughout the life of the issue”.
