Visa Adds Open Source Hyperledger Tech For B2B Blockchain Payments

By Hannah October 26, 2018 Digital Currency No Comments

Visa is adding open-source blockchain code from the Hyperledger Fabric prior to the commercial launch of its own blockchain service for enterprise payments in Q1 2019.

Visa B2B Connect, the payment giant’s enterprise blockchain platform that allows cross-border payments between businesses, is collaborating with IBM to add the latter’s development of the open-source Hyperledger Fabric framework.

Almost two years ago, Visa initially reported the blockchain platform co-developed with blockchain industry startup chain Inc., as an alternative solution to global payments rail SWIFT for making significant payments between businesses across the border.

The service tokenizes a participant’s data such as account numbers and other sensitive information with a unique identifier to allow faster transactions liable to lessen fraud. Basically, cross-border corporate transactions sent through B2B Connect are conducted from the bank of origin directly to the receiver to at the beneficiary bank.

Organized by the Linux Foundation, the Hyperledger Fabric was initially created by IBM and New York-based industry startup Digital Asset as a blockchain framework and officially launched its production-ready software, the Hyperledger Fabric 1.0, in 2017.

As well as the Hyperledger Fabric’s functionality into Visa’s core assets’ will enhance and allow financial transactions on a scalable permissioned network to permit “a frictionless cross-border payment experience with utmost security, trust, and transparency,” Visa said in a press release last week.

IBM Blockchain Services general manager Jason Kelley noted:

“IBM Blockchain Platform and Hyperledger technology are delivering real business value today and B2B Connect is one of the most powerful examples to date of how blockchain is transforming payments.”