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Visa Working on Interoperability Platform for Stablecoins, CBDCs

The channel would allow cryptocurrencies to be transferred between different blockchains.

Updated May 11, 2023, 5:45 p.m. Published Sep 30, 2021, 11:59 a.m. 1 min read
(Sinisa Botas/Shutterstock)

Payments behemoth Visa has proposed a platform to enable interoperability between central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and other stablecoins.

  • The “universal payments channel” (UPC) aims to allow the cryptocurrencies to be transferred between different blockchain networks.
  • In a white paper, Visa said “the UPC technology can play an important role between private stablecoins and public CBDCs by providing permissioned access for whitelisted stablecoins to be interoperable with CBDCs.”
  • The UPC protocol will allow payments through an entity known as the “UPC Hub,” which would be a trusted gateway to read the state of two ledgers, checking the eligibility of every payment.
  • With almost every major economy in the world exploring the development of a CBDC, questions have been asked about how different currencies could interoperate and eyes have turned to companies like Visa to provide such a service.

Read more: BIS Signals Central Banks to Start Work on CBDCs

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