ConsenSys to help Visa develop CBDC integration module

Visa объявила о партнерстве с блокчейн-компанией ConsenSys для разработки модуля, призванного помочь центральным банкам и финансовым учреждениям создать удобные для пользователя услуги поверх сетей CBDC.

The solution will allow consumers to use CBDC-linked payment cards or digital wallets anywhere Visa is accepted, said Catherine Gu, head of Visa’s CBDC division.

“If CBDC succeeds, it could broaden access to financial services and make government disbursements more efficient, targeted, and secure — an attractive proposition for policymakers,” she noted.

As an example, Gu cited stimulus payments. In her words, the digital currency would enable rapid payments to targeted user groups with programmable spending parameters.

ConsenSys’s Head of Strategic Sales Sheela Adinolfi added that central banks and traditional financial players will need to collaborate to ensure broad adoption of CBDC.

The Visa payment module is designed to give financial-services providers easier access to CBDC. Banks and institutions will be able to integrate their existing infrastructure with these networks, enabling them, for example, to issue CBDC-linked payment cards.

“We envision a user interface very similar to the one you pay with today. If CBDC networks are easily integrated into your existing banking app, you will be able to use your CBDC-linked Visa card,” said Gu.

The company is in the process of integrating the module with ConsenSys Codefi’s payments sandbox, which runs on the blockchain platform Quorum.

In the spring, Visa expects to move to the testing phase of the CBDC module’s use cases, Gu noted.

Back in December 2021, ConsenSys, together with another payments giant Mastercard, launched the ConsenSys Rollups solution for scaling the Ethereum network.