Payment giant Visa has taken a step towards realizing its vision for central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) by developing a concept that shows how various CBDCs can be interoperable with each other to make payments.

The concept, called the “Universal Payments Channel” (UPC), outlines how various blockchain networks can be interconnected to enable the transfer of CBDCs and how Visa can help in the future to exchange various CBDCs built on different blockchains.

Digital currencies, including CBDC and stablecoins, will play an essential role in people's financial lives in the future, according to Visa. And for digital currencies to be successful, Visa thinks they must have a great consumer experience and widespread acceptance by merchants. “It means the ability to make and receive payments, regardless of currency, channel or form factor. And that's where Visa's UPC concept comes into play, ”the company said.

UPC is a conceptual protocol that facilitates digital currency payments between different parties. "The UPC protocol facilitates payments through an entity, called the UPC hub, which acts as a gateway to receive payment requests from registered sending parties and routes them to registered recipient parties," reads its white paper.

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