Payment Giant Visa Files Patent for a Digital Currency

Payment processing giant Visa recently filed a patent application to create a new digital currency. The new coin will potentially use Ethereum as the foundational blockchain.

A new patent

According to a new patent filed by Visa with the US Patent and Trademark Office, the firm is looking to create a new digital currency. The patent was filed in November 2018 but it was published only this week. It details a digital currency recorded on a blockchain that is controlled by a centralized entity computer. The system is invented by Alexander Pierre and Simon J. Hurry with the Visa International Service Association in San Francisco.

The currency will most likely utilize Ethereum blockchain to build its systems. Visa has detailed two records in the application, out of which one will be “the digital currency for an amount associated with the denomination has been created for a public key associated with a digital wallet.” The second record will note the “removal of the physical currency from circulation in a fiat currency system.”

The centralized process will be used to maintain the value of the currency, which is purported to be a stablecoin. The application suggests that the central entity will ensure that every time a new digital fiat currency is generated, a corresponding number of physical dollar bills are removed from circulation.

Visa tries to capture the crypto craze

Forbes reported that Visa has mentioned the US dollar as the fiat on which the stablecoin will be based. However, there could be other fiat currencies as well, like euros, pounds, and yen. The system can be used to digitize the physical currency system of any central bank, anywhere in the world.

In February this year, crypto exchange Coinbase said that it has become a principal member of Visa. The exchange will now be able to issue debit cards to its users for spending cryptocurrencies. Recently, the Lightning-compatible app Fold also joined the Fintech Fast Track Program by Visa. It now plans to roll-out a cashback rewards card based on Bitcoin, co-branded with Visa.