Visa has revealed that its tokens have generated more than $40 billion in incremental e-commerce revenue for businesses in Nigeria and other parts of the globe while saving $650 million in fraud in the last year.
Visa has also issued more than 10 billion tokens since the technology’s launch in 2014.
Over the last 10 years, Visa said it has further enhanced security across the payment ecosystem through tokenisation – a technology that replaces sensitive personal data with a cryptographic key that conceals sensitive payment data.
Tokenisation can be embedded into any device, making digital payments more secure while being virtually useless to scammers.
Currently, 29 per cent of all transactions processed by Visa use tokens, reflecting their widespread adoption and the trust consumers place in this secure payment method.
Tokenisation technology has also caused a six-basis point increase in payment approval rates globally. Overall, tokenization can reduce the rate of fraud by up to 60 per cent, providing businesses with more successful transactions and offering much-needed peace of mind to consumers and merchants of all sizes.
Chief Product Officer at Visa, Jack Forestell, said: “Today’s milestone represents the impact that tokenisation has had on the entire payments ecosystem since we introduced the technology 10 years ago.
“Tokens have changed the game – securing online payments and paving the way for more innovations – from tapping to pay on a phone to enabling a future where we have more control over our data in the age of AI.”
Visa, which announced the milestone live onstage at Money20/20 in Amsterdam, Netherlands, recently, issued its billionth token in 2020. Due in part to the shift to digital during the pandemic, the adoption of tokens accelerated significantly in the last four years.
Today, over 8,000 issuers are enabled for tokenisation, with over 200 markets empowered with the technology globally. In the last 12 months, over 1.5 million ecommerce merchants transacted with Visa tokens every day.
A recent Visa survey revealed that less than one-third of consumers globally feel in control of their data, and only slightly more than one-third fully understand how their data is used. However, tokenisation can unlock a whole new era of personalisation and security – one where consumers control their data and approve when and where it can be shared for a more personalised experience.
In the not-too-distant future, Visa explained that its data tokens could help merchants and commerce platforms use your data in a way that is both transparent and gives you control—meaning you decide who gets access to your data (and when they no longer do) as well as how your data will be used.
