Visa Europe Collab has partnered with a Blockchain tech startup, Epiphyte, to test the technology for international remittances.
Visa Europe Collab is the innovation lab of Visa Europe, which until a few days ago was a completely distinct entity from Visa Inc (NYSE:V), the world's largest electronic Payments network. Successful ideas from the lab are developed into real-world applications through Visa Europe.
Visa joined the blockchain party earlier this year when it disclosed its research plans as part of a broader FinTech initiative. It is also one of the main investors in Chain, a crypto startup now developing blockchain technology for the broader financial markets.
According to it website, "Epiphyte provides a blockchain powered SaaS service that delivers instant settlement and DVP (delivery versus payment) for financial trades." It says that its system is being used by some of the world's largest financial institutions for FX, commodity, private equity trades and others.
According to a press release, the companies are simulating real-world transactions with Bitcoin as an alternative to conventional remittance processing. The aim is to bring down the high cost and lead time, a goal that is one of the most researched in FinTech today.
The partnership with a heavyweight payment processor may help bridge the gap between the many proofs-of-concept and the real world.
Epiphyte CEO Edan Yago commented, "We believe that blockchain technology has the potential to change all of that, but we need to find a way of making that technology work for the mainstream financial world. By combining Visa’s experience as the largest payments network in the world with our experience of the distributed ledger we’re hoping we can work together to reshape this sector for the better."
