This week at Money20/20 in Las Vegas, Visa announced that it is extending its innovative token technology to ecommerce payments across the web.
“Tokenizing” ecommerce means that Visa has integrated the Visa Token Service into Visa Checkout, the company’s digital check out service used by merchants and consumers globally to make safe, easy payments online and in-app in just a few clicks. The Visa Token service is the company’s security technology that replaces sensitive payment account information, such as the 16-digit account number, with a unique digital identifier that can be used to process payments without exposing actual card account details.
But it’s not just Visa Checkout. Visa is also offering its token service to merchants who store card payment information in online databases for the purpose of repeat payments. Most people are probably familiar with this way to pay, and use it frequently. It’s used by merchants that offer monthly subscription billing for services like streaming entertainment, utilities and recurring subscriptions. By replacing consumer payment account information stored in online databases with “tokens,” Visa ensures those account numbers, known as “cards-on-file,” can’t be used for any payment transactions other than those for which they were intended.
This week’s announcement, coupled with the transition to EMV® chip technology for cards in the physical world, represent a huge step-forward in payment security over the last year. We couldn’t be more excited to work with merchants and financial institutions alike to ensure customers around the world enjoy enhanced payment protection no matter how they chose to pay – online, in app and in the store.
