Visa Debuts Bitcoin Proof-of-Concept for Car Leasing

Visa and DocuSign unveiled a new proof-of-concept this week that leverages the bitcoin blockchain for recordkeeping.

The project, outlined in a 26th October blog post and debuted at Money20/20 in Las Vegas, focuses on digitizing the process of leasing a car. Bitcoin transactions are used to create a digital fingerprint for each vehicle, with new transactions published throughout the leasing process.

"From the driver's seat, the customer then chooses the lease options for the car – low, mid or high mileage, for example and DocuSigns the leasing contract right there and then. This is all in turn updated on the blockchain,” the post explains.

“They then choose their insurance options in the familiar way – evaluating by coverage, deductible and other factors," it continues. "They would again DocuSign the agreements, and the blockchain would again be updated.”

Visa is involved through its technology innovation arm, which has been working with bitcoin and the blockchain for months. The company is also an investor in DocuSign.

Other elements of the proof-of-concept involve Visa’s credit cart network and some of DocuSign’s document management technology in a bid to connect the leased car and further digitize the leasing process. DocuSign released a YouTube video that shows a step-by-step demonstration, including instances in which information is published via the bitcoin blockchain.

DocuSign and Visa did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

View the full video demonstration below:

Images via Shutterstock, YouTube