Visa Opens Access to Tokenization Service

“Giesecke and Devrient, for example, will use the tokenization service to offer ‘manufacturers of wearables, mobile devices and other wallet providers secure and flexible payment functionality,’ …”

Visa is opening up its tokenization service to third party developers.

The Visa Token Service is the company’s encryption security offering, replacing Visa cardholders’ account information with unique codes to help secure digital transactions: Even if transaction information is intercepted, the hacked tokens are designed to be worthless. Now, other companies that partner up with Visa can take advantage of VTS for their own digital security efforts.

Visa’s initial partners in the VTS access program are Gemalto, Giesecke and Devrient, and Inside Secure, and statements from those companies’ representatives indicate the range of applications that the partnerships will entail. Giesecke and Devrient, for example, will use the tokenization service to offer “manufacturers of wearables, mobile devices and other wallet providers secure and flexible payment functionality,” while the program will help Inside Secure “to fast track IoT device and wearable manufacturers into the digital payment ecosystem”.

Visa’s announcement comes the same week that the company has revealed it’s working with Intel to bring its encryption technology to the IoT via Intel chips. Together, the developments point to the company’s efforts to position its payment technology as a central component of the payments ecosystem developing with the emerging IoT.