Yesterday, June 11th 2019, global payments processor, Visa, announced their B2B Connect network. They did so via a press release on their website.

The B2B Connect network is a global payments solution which is intended to be used by financial institutions. It allows its users to process “high value” and “cross border” payments quickly, and securely.

Currently the platform supports 30 “payment corridors”. Though it is expected to increase that number to 90 by the end of the year.

Kevin Phalen, SVP, head of Visa Business Solutions, states B2B Connect will remove “friction” from direct bank to bank transfers. He also explains B2B Connect will provide better transparency, and consistency of data.

The network will work by tokenising data, such as account numbers, held by banks. This data will then be associated with a “unique digital identity” – a wallet to the average crypto user. Said unique identity will then be able to manage funds and create transactions on the B2B Connect ledger.

Using the Linux Hyper Ledger

In order to deliver the B2B Connect service Visa have teamed up with IBM. IBM are assisting Visa in scaling the open source Hyperledger Fabric framework, offered by the Linux Foundation.

IBM have a proven track record in the current blockchain space. They are also one of the global leaders in the technology field. It is expected their presence in the B2B Connect network will improve its performance to facilitate quicker growth.

Speaking on the partnership, Marie Wieck, general manager at IBM Blockchain, said the following:

“Working together on Visa B2B Connect, we are combining the strengths of the world’s leader in electronic payments with IBM’s recognized expertise in helping scale distributed ledger technology. This is a unique example of how blockchain-based architecture can help transform B2B value chains by facilitating secure and transparent transactions globally”

Wait, There’s No B2B Coin?

Many of the newer members of the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry may be wondering if there is a B2B cryptocurrency token. There isn’t.

The software used by Visa is a permissioned ledger system. By permissioned it is meant that anyone who wishes to use the network needs to first acquire… permission.

This is where the main difference between a traditional public ledger, such as Bitcoin, and permissioned ledger, such as Ripple, exists.

In a public ledger anyone can see any transaction which ever occurred in the system. They can do so by simply using a block explorer. A permissioned ledger differs in the fact that publicly accessible data can be limited by the network owner.

Another difference between the two ledger systems is the method of block validation. In a public ledger nodes are used to act as miners. Each time a block is ‘mined’ transactions are verified. When the transactions are verified miners get paid a fee in a cryptocurrency token.

In a permissioned ledger nodes are still used to validate blocks. However, the number of nodes can be controlled by the network owner. Operators of the nodes may not receive a fee for validating a block.

The easiest way to look at the two networks would be to compare an al a carte menu and a set lunch. In the permissioned ledger (al a carte) network owners can pick and choose what they want from the menu. In a public ledger the menu is set at the time of opening and changing anything about it requires consensus from everyone involved.

For more information on public and permissioned ledgers read the following: https://www.coindesk.com/information/what-is-the-difference-between-open-and-permissioned-blockchains

Love, peace and happiness.