Visa is one of the largest payment processors in the world. The company has been looking at crypto for some time to learn how the new technology can help innovate its products. In a recent article the company is now proposing to use Ethereum (ETH) for making automatic payments.
Visa is investigating automatic ethereum payments
In the article, the researchers look at StarkNet, a so-called layer 2 solution built on Ethereum. With that solution, users who store their crypto in a self custody wallet, or a wallet of which they themselves have the private keys own, can have automatic payments made.
An example of such a wallet is a Ledger wallet. Do you also want a wallet that only you have control over? Then visit the Ledger website here.
Making automatic payments is “a core functionality that existing blockchain infrastructure does not have,” the researchers said. On Ethereum, smart contracts cannot initiate payments from self-custody wallets themselves. Hence, Visa turned to StarkNet to conduct its test.
A subscription to a service like Netflix cannot easily be paid for with crypto without automatic payment. In that case you would have to sign your payment every month, a cumbersome activity, especially if you have several subscriptions.
Ethereum test introduces “real-world applications”
Now that it is possible to make automatic payments from these types of wallets, according to Visa, other “real-world applications” can start using crypto. As the researchers write:
“Using the approach we introduced, other real-world applications can bring recurring payments to the blockchain. At Visa, our goal is to help create better user experiences by leveraging both existing and new payment rails. To that end, we believe that programmable money and programmable payments represent a great opportunity.”
The ethereum price saw a small increase after the publication of this article. Whether the increase is specifically related to this ethereum news is not clear. It is of course a positive development that a company such as Visa is seriously investigating the network.