Visa Solves the Compatibility Problem among Payment Apps

It can be inconvenient if you want to send money from your PayPal account to someone who uses a different digital payment app. Visa is looking to become a sort of middleman and solve for the compatibility problem with “interoperability”. And in doing so, it wants to reach gig workers, creators, and online sellers.

Visa announced a new pilot program on Tuesday designed to help people move money between different digital payment apps – and without requiring them to have a Visa card. “Visa+ allows you to pay and get paid across different payment apps, so you can keep using your preferred one. Visa technology makes it possible,” the company explained.

Pymts explained it in more detail after speaking with Vikram Modi, head of Visa+:

“At the heart of Visa+ is a new payment credential, Modi explained, is Visa+ Payname, which is a “receive” only personalized payment address. Individuals transacting through a participating app, which to start is PayPal and Venmo, create a Visa+ Payname, which can then be shared with a sender in another app. Upon sending a payment, the sender’s app “calls” the Visa+ service, requests an underlying token, at which time the sender’s app “pushes” payment through to the recipient’s wallet, which is then credited to their account in real time.”

Visa stated in its press release that Visa+ serves as a bridge that helps bring a new level of convenience, simplicity and reach to the world of person-to-person payments.

Visa partners DailyPay, i2c, TabaPay and Western Union will also integrate Visa+ within their platforms. “Participating digital wallets, neo-banks and other payment apps, reaching millions of US users, will be able to enable interoperability through Visa+.”

Visa+ is expected to launch for US consumers with select partners in late 2023. General availability is planned for mid-2024.

Ina Steiner

Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). She is a member of the Online News Association (Sep 2005 - present) and Investigative Reporters and Editors (Mar 2006 - present). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com. See disclosure at EcommerceBytes.com/disclosure/.