Yesterday Visa published a thought leader article on automating blockchain payments where digital currency is held in a self-custodial wallet. Recurring payments are more straightforward if the cryptocurrency is held in custody because the owner can instruct the custodian to execute the payments similar to a bank account. However, for self-custodied wallets, the Ethereum blockchain requires a private key to make a payment.
An analogy in banking is if you set up a recurring payment with a debit or credit card but had to enter the card security or verification code every time a payment is made. That’s not practical for recurring payments.
At the same time, the concept of a public blockchain sending payments without your permission is startling. However, the solution is relatively simple: getting you to approve a list of recipients, so you don’t end up paying some random person. Visa refers to it as a new type of account contract, a delegable account.
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